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And he said unto them :-"Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master." And they said:-"We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth."

And they called Rebekah, and said unto her :"Wilt thou go with this man?" And she said: "I will go."

And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her:-"Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."

And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country.5

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel for she had said unto the servant:-"What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?" And the servant had said: "It is my master:" therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.

And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.

5. The southern portion of Palestine.

And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."

6. Sarah had died a little while before the opening of the scene of this story.

Study Outline Study. Note 12.

V

THE STORY OF JACOB AND ESAU
(Genesis xxvii, 1-41)

Introductory Note.-Isaac and Rebekah had two sons. Esau, the elder, offended his parents by his preference for the wild life of the wilderness over the pastoral pursuits of his family and by connecting himself, through marriage, with the Canaanites. Jacob was more prudent and tractable.

And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him:-"My son.” And he1 said unto him:-"Behold, here I am.”

And he said:-"Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison; and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die."

And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying:"Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me sa

1. Esau.

2. Savoury meat-dainties of any kind; but the ordinary food of the patriarchs, who were pastoral nomads, must have been mainly flesh.

voury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he ioveth: and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death."

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother:-"Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man my father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall here bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing."

And his mother said unto him:-"Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them."

And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son; and she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck; and she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

And he came unto his father, and said:-"My father."

And he said:"Here am I; who art thou, my son?" And Jacob said unto his father:-"I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me:

arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me."

And Isaac said unto his son:- "How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?"

And he said:"Because the Lord thy God brought it to me."

And Isaac said unto Jacob:-"Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not."

And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said: “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him. And he said:-"Art thou my very son Esau?" And he said: "I am." And he said:"Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee."

And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him:-"Come near now, and kiss me, my son." And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said:

"See, 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,

3. The two blessings of Isaac are expressed in poetical form. See Outline Study, Note 40.

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