BOOK II. THE PATRIARCHAL AGE.

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G. F. Maclear

THERE will always, perhaps, be a doubt as to the exact period after the Flood when Job lived, but there can be no doubt that neither his constancy nor his faithfulness to the one true God, were the characteristics of the age succeeding the Flood. Within ten generations after that event mankind had again become forgetful of their Maker, and corrupted their way, threatening a fresh outbreak of violence and irreligion. Now, however, it was not the purpose of the Almighty to visit the earth with any universal judgment. In the counsels of Redemption it was His will to select a man, and through him, a nation, to be His witness upon earth, to withdraw this nation from contact with the surrounding world, to place it under a special and peculiar constitution, to entrust to it the guardianship of ancient truths and of future hopes, and out of it to bring, in the fulness of time (Gal. iv.4), the promised Saviour of the human race.

At this point, then, Sacred History becomes more full, and its stream hitherto slender widens into a broad river. Mighty empires and great nations seem for a while to be forgotten, but only because we are now to be more especially concerned with the history of that particular nation, in and through which all nations of the earth were to be blessed (Gen. xii.3).

The man selected by the Almighty to be the ancestor of a people destined to exert so momentous an influence on the salvation of the world was Abraham, or, as he was first called, Abram, the son of Terah, who lived in the eighth generation from Shem, in Ur of the Chaldees. Besides Abram, Terah had two other sons, Nahor and Haran, but Abram, though mentioned first, was in all probability the youngest of the three. From Ur, which may perhaps be identified with the modern Orfah15, in upper Mesopotamia, where his family had become tainted with the generally prevailing idolatry (Josh. xxiv. 2,14), Terah removed, and travelling in a southerly direction arrived at Haran or Charran16, where he stayed. In this journey he was accompanied by his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot, and seems to have intended to go into the land of Canaan (Gen. xi.31), but this was prevented by his death at Haran, when he had reached the age of 205. After this event, a still more distinct intimation of the Divine Will was made to his son Abram, bidding him leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and go to a land which God would shew him. There, said the Almighty, I will make of thee a great nation, and make thy name great, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Severe as were the hardships which this call involved, painful as it must have been to flesh and blood to sever the ties which bound him to his family and his people, Abram did not refuse to follow the Hand which promised him guidance, protection, and a mighty future. At the age of 75, with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all that he possessed, he left Haran, crossed the Euphrates, and commenced his journey southward and westward towards the Land of Promise (Acts vii. 4,5).

This country, the future home of the great nation destined to spring from his loins, was in many respects eminently adapted for its special mission in the history of the World. In extent, indeed, it was but a narrow strip of country, but a little larger than the six northern counties of England, being nearly 180 miles in length17, and 75 miles in breadth, and having an area of about 13,600 English square miles. Bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, on the north by the mountains of Lebanon, on the east by the Syrian desert, on the south by the wilderness of Arabia, it was situated at the meeting-point of the two continents of Asia and Africa, “on the very outpost, on the extremest western edge of the East.” It was a secluded land. A wilderness encompassed it on the east and south, mountains shut it in on the north, and the “Great Sea” which washed its western shore was the terror rather than the thoroughfare of ancient nations. “Unlike the coast of Europe, and especially of Greece, it had no indentations, no winding creeks, no deep havens18,” but one small port—that of Joppa—with which to tempt the mariner from the west. But while thus eminently adapted to be the “silent and retired nursery of the Kingdom of God19,” it was in the very centre of the activity of the ancient world, in the midst of the nations, and the countries that were round about it (Ezek. v.5). On the South was the great empire of Egypt, on the North-east the rising kingdom of Assyria. Neither of these great nations could communicate with the other without passing through Palestine, and so learning something of its peculiar institutions and religion; and when the fulness of time was come no country was better suited, from its position at the extremest verge of the Eastern World, to be the starting-point whence the glad tidings of Redemption might be proclaimed to all nations20. Moreover, narrow as were its limits, and secluded as was its position, it yet presented a greater variety of surface, scenery and temperature than is to be found in any other part of the world, and needed not to depend on other countries for anything that either the luxuries or actual wants of its inhabitants required. Four broadly marked longitudinal regions divided its surface. (i)First, there was the low plain of the western sea-coast, broad towards the south, and gradually narrowing towards the north, famous for the Shephelah (the low country) with its waving corn-fields, and the vale of Sharon (level country), the garden of Palestine. From this was an ascent to (ii)a strip of table-land, every part of which was more or less undulating, but increasing in elevation from north to south21, and broken only by the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon. To this succeeded a rapid descent into (iii)a deep fissure or valley, through which the Jordan (the descender), the only river of importance in the country, rushes from its source at the base of Hermon into the Dead Sea, the surface of which is no less than 1316 feet below that of the Mediterranean22. Hence was a second ascent to (iv)a strip of table-land on the east similar to that on the west, and seeming with its range of purple-tinted mountains to overhang Jerusalem itself. Crowned by the forests and upland pastures of Gilead and Bashan, this eastern table-land gradually melted into the desert which rolled between it and the valley of Mesopotamia. Thus within a very small space were crowded the most diverse features of natural scenery, and the most varied products. It was a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. viii. 7–9; xi. 10–12). The low plains yielded luxuriant crops of wheat and barley, of rye and maize; on the table-lands with their equable and moderate climate grew the vine, the olive, the fig, the almond, the pomegranate; in the tropical neighbourhood of Jericho flourished the palm-tree and the balsam; while the noble cedar waved on the mountains of Lebanon.

Such was the Land, secluded and yet central, narrow and yet wonderfully diversified alike in its natural features and its products, whither the Almighty now bade Abram direct his steps. Striking across the great Syrian desert, the patriarch kept on his southward course, and having crossed the Jordan, passed through the land, till he came to Shechem23, situated between the mountains Ebal and Gerizim. This spot, destined afterwards to be so celebrated, was then only marked by the majestic oak of Moreh, probably a Canaanitish chief, but its many fountains, rills, and water-courses24 made it then, as it ever has been since, a natural pasture-ground for flocks and herds; and here Abram halted, and learnt that he had reached the goal of his long journey. This land, said God, I will give unto thy seed; and at Shechem the patriarch built his first altar to the Lord in the “Land of Promise25” (Gen. xii. 6,7).

Thence he afterwards removed southward a distance of about twenty miles, to the strong mountain country east of Bethel, or as it was then called Luz; one of the finest tracts of the land for pasturage, and here he erected his second altar unto the Lord. During his sojourn in this neighbourhood he learnt that, though the heir of mighty promises, he was not to be exempt from his share of trials and disappointments. The first that befell him was a grievous famine, caused probably by a failure of the usual rains; in consequence of which, finding himself unable to support his numerous dependents, he resolved, though without direct Divine suggestion, to go down into Egypt, then, as always, the fertile granary of the neighbouring nations. As he drew near the land of the mighty Pharaohs, he reflected that the beauty of his wife might expose her to danger from the sensual, voluptuous Egyptians, and under the influence of these apprehensions persuaded her to stoop to an unworthy equivocation, and give herself out as his sister. What he anticipated came to pass. The princes of Egypt beheld the woman that she was fair, and recommended her to their monarch, by whom she was taken into his palace, while numerous presents of cattle and sheep were sent to her supposed brother. But the monarch found that the coming of the stranger into his palace involved him in serious troubles, the Lord plagued Pharaoh with great plagues, till, having ascertained the true relation between her and Abram, he sent her back to her husband, with a strong rebuke to the latter for the deception he had practised.

How long after this Abram stayed in Egypt we are not told. But at length his wealth in cattle, and gold and silver, having materially increased, he quitted the country, and once more took up his abode on his former camping-ground between Bethel and Ai. Hitherto his nephew Lot had accompanied him in all his wanderings, but now the increasing numbers of their flocks and herds generated a quarrel between their respective herdsmen, and it was plainly necessary that they should separate. With characteristic generosity Abram bade his nephew take the first choice, and select for himself, whether on the left hand or the right, a place for his new abode. From the high mountain-range26 to the east of Bethel, where they were then encamped, Lot lifted up his eyes and looked down upon the wide and well-watered plain south of the Jordan, then a very garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt (Gen. xiii.10) they had so lately left. As yet no terrible convulsion had effaced the site of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plain. Fair and fertile the coveted possession stretched onwards unto Zoar, and in spite of the notorious wickedness of the inhabitants Lot chose it for his abode, and the two separated themselves the one from the other. Though Abram was thus left to wait alone for the fulfilment of the Promise, he was not forgotten by the God in whom he trusted. A more full and more definite promise was now vouchsafed to him. Lift up thine eyes, said the Almighty, and look from place to place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever; and I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered (Gen. xiii. 14–17).

Thus encouraged, the Friend of God (Jas. ii.23) removed his tent, and travelling southward took up his abode under the spreading terebinth27 of Mamre, an Amorite prince (Gen. xiv. 13,24), near Hebron, or as it was then called Kirjath-Arba, the City of Arba the father of Anak and the progenitor of the giant Anakim (Gen. xxiii.2; xxxv.27; Josh. xiv.15). While dwelling peacefully in this neighbourhood, which like all other places he hallowed with an altar to Jehovah, he received one day unexpected tidings of his nephew Lot. The chiefs of the five cities in the tropical valley of the Jordan, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Belah, had for twelve years been subject to Chedorlaomer, a powerful king of Elam or Mesopotamia. But they had lately united together to throw off his yoke. Thereupon the King of Elam, aided by three other confederate chiefs, proceeded to make war against the southern kings. Sweeping down on a sudden foray, he smote the countries on the eastern uplands of the Jordan and the southern region of Mount Seir. Returning thence he ravaged all the country of the Amalekites, and with his allied chiefs met the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah in pitched battle in the Vale of Siddim, probably at the north-west corner of the Dead Sea. The five southern kings were utterly routed, and with much spoil and many captives the Assyrian invader commenced his return northwards. It was the news of this sudden invasion which now reached the ears of Abram. Without losing a moment he instantly armed his 318 trained servants, and, aided by the confederate chief Mamre and his brothers Eshcol and Aner, arose and pursued the Assyrians by night. The latter had in the meantime reached the neighbourhood of the Sidonian Laish, far up in the northern mountains. Thither, however, Abram pursued them, and falling upon them suddenly, while all unconscious of coming danger, he smote them and chased them to Hobah, on the left of Damascus. Thence, with the recovered captives, amongst whom was Lot, he returned, and at the King’s Dale, not far from Hebron, was met by the King of Sodom, accompanied by a mysterious personage, who now meets us for the first and only time, named Melchisedec, a king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. The sudden appearance of one thus uniting the kingly and priestly functions, of whose origin and family we know nothing, has led to much speculation. Putting aside more improbable conjectures, we may perhaps conclude that he was an eminent Canaanitish prince in the line of Ham, who had maintained the pure worship of the One true God, and who, according to a custom not uncommon in patriarchal times, was at once king and priest28. A sufficient proof of his high dignity is afforded by the fact that to him the patriarch Abram reverently gave tithes of all that he had taken in his late successful expedition, and received his solemn blessing (Heb. vii. 2,6). Before they parted the King of Sodom pressed Abram to take a portion of the spoil as his reward. This, however, the latter with his usual generosity firmly declined; he would take nothing, from a thread even to a shoelatchet (Gen. xiv.23), save only a portion for his allies, the chiefs Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, and then returned to the shade of the oak or terebinth near Hebron.

CHAPTER II.
LIFE OF ABRAHAM CONTINUED.
Gen. xv.–xxv. B.C. 1913–1822.

WE now enter on another and a different scene in the history of Abram. He had been victorious over the Assyrian kings; he had gotten him honour as the prompt avenger of injustice and oppression before the chiefs of the land in which he was a pilgrim and a sojourner; he had been solemnly blessed by the King of Righteousness; but where was the fulfilment of the promise for which he had so long been waiting? He had no son, no single pledge of the mighty nation destined to spring from his loins. When, therefore, his all-merciful Guide appeared to him again in vision, to assure him of safety and protection, he could not restrain the deep sorrow of his heart, and mournfully complained that in place of a son, one born in his house, probably Eliezer of Damascus, would be his heir. On this occasion the Almighty not only solemnly assured His desponding servant that a son should be born to him, an earnest of a seed as numerous as the stars of heaven, and that the land on which he walked should undoubtedly be their inheritance, but, as in the case of Noah after the Flood, he vouchsafed to him an outward and visible sign to strengthen and support his faith. He bade the patriarch take a heifer, a ram, and a she-goat, each three years old, together with a turtle-dove and a young pigeon, and after dividing them all, except the birds, to lay them piece by piece over against the other. Familiar, doubtless, with this ancient method of ratifying a covenant, Abram did as the Lord had told him, slew the victims, and laid the divided portions in order. Then from morning until evening he watched them, and from time to time drove away the birds of prey which hovered over them. At length the sun went down, and a deep sleep fell upon him, and a horror of great darkness gathered around him. Amidst the deepening gloom there appeared to him a Smoking Furnace and a Burning Lamp passing along the space between the divided victims. Presently a Voice came to him telling him that his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs, that there they should suffer affliction 400 years; that afterwards, in the fourth generation, when the cup of the Amorites was full, they should come out with great substance, return to the spot where the patriarch now was, and enter on their promised inheritance. Thus, amidst mingled light and gloom, the ancestor of the elect nation was warned of the chequered fortunes which awaited his progeny, while at the same time he was assured of the ultimate fulfilment of the Promise, and the actual boundaries of the lands of his inheritance were marked out from the river of Egypt to the distant Euphrates; and in this confidence Abram was content to possess his soul in patience (Lk. xxi.19).

As yet, it will be observed, it had not been expressly said that his wife Sarai was the destined mother of the long-promised son. As the prospect, therefore, of her contributing to the fulfilment of the Promise became more and more remote, she seems to have concluded that this honour was not reserved for her, and accordingly persuaded her husband to take her handmaid, Hagar, an Egyptian, as a secondary wife, that by her he might obtain what was denied herself. Abram complied with her suggestion, and Hagar conceived; but the consequences did not tend to increase the patriarch’s happiness. In a moment of elation Hagar mocked her mistress, and Sarai dealt hardly with her, till she fled from her into the southern wilderness, on the way that led to her native land. There, as she halted near a fountain of water, an angel of the Lord met her, and bade her return and submit herself to her mistress, assuring her at the same time that she should give birth to a son, whom she was to call Ishmael (whom God hears). Though the son of a bondwoman (Gal. iv. 22,23), no mean future lay before him; he should become the ancestor of a numerous seed, who, like himself, would be true roving sons of the desert, their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them. In remembrance of this incident Hagar named the fountain Beer-lahai-roi, (the well of the God that appeareth), and returned to the tents of Sarah, where, in process of time she gave birth to Ishmael, when Abram was 86 years old.

Again thirteen years rolled away, and still the Promise was not fulfilled. But when hope might almost have ceased to hope, God appeared once more to Abram, recapitulated the main outline of the Covenant-Promise, changed his name from Abram (a high father), to Abraham (the father of a multitude), and assured him that at length the long-expected time was well-nigh come. But in prospect of the peculiar blessing about to be bestowed upon him, he himself, and all his seed after him, must carry about with them a perpetual pledge of their covenant relation to Jehovah. The rite of Circumcision must now be adopted by him, and instead of being the badge of any favoured class amongst the nation destined to spring from his loins, was, on pain of excommunication, to be open to the lowliest member of the Hebrew commonwealth, even to the bond-servant and the stranger. At the same time it was intimated to the patriarch that his wife Sarai, whose name also was now changed to Sarah (princess), and no other, was to be the mother of the promised child, that it would be born during the next year, and be called Isaac (Laughter); while Ishmael also, for whom Abraham had prayed, would not be forgotten, but be a partaker in the Divine blessing, and become the father of twelve princes, the ancestors of a great nation. Thereupon Abraham complied with the Divine command, and was circumcised, together with Ishmael, now thirteen years of age, and all the male members of his household.

Shortly after this, as the patriarch sat, in the heat of the day, under the oak of Mamre, he received a visit from three mysterious Strangers, whom he entertained with becoming hospitality. The meal over which he had hastily prepared, one of them inquired for his wife, and formally announced that within the year she would be the mother of a son. His words were overheard by Sarah, and she laughed incredulously at the possibility of such an event, but was thereupon reproved by the Speaker, and assured in a still more confident manner of the fulfilment of His word. Then the Three left the tent and turned their steps eastward towards Sodom. Abraham accompanied them, and on the way one of them, in whom he recognised no other than the Angel of the Covenant, informed him of the real purport of this visit to the cities where his nephew Lot had taken up his abode. The sin of these cities was very great, and their cup was now full; their inhabitants had wearied themselves with wickedness, and their licentiousness and iniquity called to Heaven for a visible revelation of Divine wrath, and judgment was now even at the door. Informed of the impending doom the Friend of God drew near, and with marvellous boldness blended with the deepest humility pleaded with the Almighty for the guilty cities. Peradventure there might be found therein at least fifty, or forty-five, or forty, or thirty, or twenty, or even ten righteous souls, would the Lord of all the earth spare them for ten’s sake? Thereupon he was assured that if only ten righteous souls could be found the cities should be spared. While he was thus pleading with God, the two other angels entered Sodom, and were hospitably entertained by Lot. But their celestial beauty only served to excite the wickedness of the inhabitants, who surrounded Lot’s house, and, in spite of his earnest expostulations, would have offered them personal violence had they not been suddenly stricken with blindness. As the night wore on, his visitors assured Lot of the certain destruction of the city, and warned him to gather together with all speed every member of his family if he would save them from the impending judgment. Lot did as he was advised; but his warning was lost upon his sons-in-law and his daughters-in-law, and he seemed unto them as one that mocked. When the day dawned, the angels broke off any further delay by laying hold on him, and his wife, and his two daughters, and having dragged them forth beyond the city, bade them flee to the neighbouring mountain range if they would not be consumed. But thither Lot was afraid to flee, and in compliance with his urgent entreaty was permitted to betake himself to the town of Bela, or Zoar (Little), on the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. The sun rose as he entered this city of refuge, and then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven, and utterly swept away by an awful convulsion every trace of the guilty cities and their inhabitants, the site of which became henceforth a perpetual desolation. Few as were the remnants of this fearful overthrow, yet one of these few failed to reach the little city of refuge. In spite of the Angel’s reiterated warning, Lot’s wife lingered, looked back, and, caught by the advancing sulphurous tide, was smothered as she stood, and became a pillar of salt (Gen. xix.26; Lk. xvii.32). As for Lot himself, afraid to dwell even in Zoar, he fled with his two daughters to the eastern mountains, and became the father of two sons, Moab and Ben-Ammi, the ancestors of two powerful nations—the Moabites and Ammonites.

Shortly after this terrible judgment, Abraham left the oak of Mamre, where he had so long encamped, and journeyed in a southerly direction towards Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur, at that time the principal seat of the Philistines, whose chief was known by the hereditary title of Abimelech, or Father-King29. Under the same apprehensions which he had felt when drawing nigh to Egypt, Abraham wished that Sarah should pass for his sister, and again exposed her to imminent risk. But, as before, the Lord mercifully intervened, and the Philistine chief restored his wife to the patriarch, together with ample presents (Gen. xx. 14–16). At length the time had come for which Abraham, now upwards of 100 years of age, had so long waited. Either at Gerar or Beersheba, Sarah gave birth to the child of promise, who was duly circumcised on the eighth day, and named Isaac (Laughter) according to the Divine command. At the feast given on the occasion of his weaning, Ishmael mocked, or in some way insulted the child. This act, observed by Sarah, roused all her animosity, and she demanded the instant dismissal of the boy and his mother. Though sorely against his will, Abraham, advised by God, yielded to his wife, and early on the following morning Hagar and her son were sent away to wander in the wilderness of Beersheba. In a short time the water in her skin-bottle was spent, and the boy tormented with thirst seemed at the point of death. Unable to endure the sight of his sufferings, Hagar laid him under the shade of the desert shrubs, and sat down about a bowshot off. But the boy was not thus to die; God heard his cry, and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar out of heaven, and bade her not despair. At the same time her eyes were opened to discern a well of water, with which she filled her bottle and gave the lad drink. Thus his life was preserved, and he grew and prospered, and dwelt in the wild desert of Paran, near Mount Sinai, and was renowned for his skill in the use of the bow. Marrying an Egyptian he became the father of twelve sons and one daughter (Gen. xxv. 13–15; xxviii.9; xxxvi.3), the ancestors of the chief portion of the wild Arab tribes, living by warlike forays and plunder, their hand against every man, and every man’s hand against them.

Meanwhile Abraham was living in peace and security, feared and respected by his Philistine neighbours in the south country, near Beersheba, when a far keener trial befell him than any he had yet experienced. The call from his own country, the famine that drove him into Egypt, the desertion of Lot, the long deferring of the promised seed, the separation from Ishmael, all these had been sore trials to flesh and blood. But now, when the hope of his life seemed at length to have been gained, he was commanded to take his son, his only son Isaac a three days’ journey into the land of Moriah, and offer him up as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that should be shown him. Utterly inexplicable as this command must have seemed, and indescribably painful to his feelings, the patriarch’s trust in God did not falter. Assured that He who had called him into being could, if it pleased Him, raise up his son even from the dead (Heb. xi.19), he rose up early in the morning, clave the wood for the sacrifice, saddled his ass, and with two young men and Isaac commenced his journey. On the third day he lifted up his eyes, and beheld the spot afar off; thereupon leaving the young men behind, he laid the wood upon his son, and with the fire in his hand, and a knife, ascended the mountain to the spot30 of which God had told him. Marvelling that no victim had been brought, but assured that a lamb would be provided for a burnt-offering, Isaac accompanied his father to the summit, and when the altar had been built and the wood laid thereon, submitted without a murmur to be bound and placed upon it. Another moment and the father’s hand was actually outstretched to slay his son, when a voice from heaven arrested him, and bade him forbear to proceed further, seeing that the end for which this mysterious trial had been sent was now gained, for Abraham had not withheld his only son, but given proof of his willingness to surrender even him to the Divine call. At the same moment the patriarch looked, and beheld behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, which he took and offered as a burnt-offering instead of his son. In memory of this eventful day he named the place Jehovah-Jireh, i.e. Jehovah will see or provide, and again received the assurance of the Divine blessing upon himself and his future descendants, who should be multiplied as the stars of heaven, and as the sand upon the seashore, and become the channel of blessings to all the nations of the earth.

This is the culminating point in Abraham’s life. Implicit trust in the Most High, unfaltering obedience to His will, had never been more signally displayed, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness (Rom. iv. 3,9). From this time his course was calm and peaceful. Leaving Beersheba he turned northwards, and once more abode under the oak of Mamre. Here he lost the partner of his long and eventful career. At the age of 127 (the only instance in which the age of a woman is recorded in Scripture) Sarah died, and was laid in the cave of the field of Machpelah, a spot now covered by the Mosque of Hebron, which Abraham bought for 400 shekels of silver, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite. So deep was the respect of the children of Heth for the mighty prince who had so long lived among them, that in spite of the usual Oriental jealousy on this point they would willingly have permitted him to bury his dead in the choicest of their own sepulchres. But this Abraham declined, and the Cave of Machpelah with the surrounding field was made over to him for a possession for ever31.

Three years afterwards, anxious to prevent an alliance between his son and any of the Canaanitish nations, he sent the eldest servant of his house, probably Eliezer of Damascus, into Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor his brother, to procure from thence a wife for him. His servant faithfully discharged his commission, and the piety he displayed reflecting the goodness of the patriarch himself was rewarded. At a well outside the city of Haran he met Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel32 the son of Nahor, going forth with her pitcher on her shoulder to draw water. In answer to his inquiries she told him who she was, and conducted him to the house of her brother Laban. There he recounted all that had befallen his master in the land of his pilgrimage, and made known the purpose of his errand. Rebekah, when asked by her brother and mother, announced her readiness to accompany the servant to the tents of Abraham, and in the course of time became Isaac’s wife (Gen. xxiv.).

Before long Abraham himself also married again, and by Keturah his second wife, became the father of six children, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah (Gen. xxv.2), the ancestors of Arabian and Midianitish tribes. Lest they should dispute the inheritance with Isaac, the prudent patriarch, while he yet lived, presented them with gifts, and sent them away into the south-east country (Gen. xxv.6) where their descendants settled along the borders of the Elanitic Gulf in considerable numbers. And then the Father of the Faithful, the Friend of God, being 175 years old, had reached the term of life allotted to him. In a good old age, and full of years, he was gathered unto his people, and was laid by Isaac and Ishmael also, who had come up from the wild desert of Paran to assist in these last sad offices, by the side of his beloved Sarah, in the cave of Machpelah33.

CHAPTER III.
THE HISTORY OF ISAAC.
Gen. xxv.–xxvii. B.C. 1822–1760.

FOR nineteen years after their marriage Isaac and Rebekah were childless. But at length, in answer to earnest prayer, Rebekah became the mother of twin sons, Esau (hairy, rough) and Jacob (he that holds by the heel, or supplanter). The bitter enmity afterwards to exist between the brothers was foreshadowed even before their birth, and as they grew the difference in their characters became still more prominent. Esau became a cunning hunter, wild and daring, even as his rough and robust frame betokened, revelling like a true son of the desert in the excitement of the chase. Jacob, on the other hand, was a quiet domestic youth, dwelling in tents, the favourite of his mother, while Esau, by a not uncommon caprice of affection, was the favourite of the gentle retiring Isaac, whose keen relish for savoury food was gratified by his success in the hunting-field (Gen. xxv. 24–28).

It is in connection with his favourite pursuit that Esau first attracts our notice. As the eldest son he had several important privileges. He held superior rank in the family (Gen. xlix.3), and would succeed to a double portion of his father’s property (Gen. xlviii.22; Deut. xxi.17); his also was, in all probability, the priestly office (Num. viii. 17–19), and the Covenant-Blessing (Heb. xii. 16,17; Gen. xxvii. 28, 29,36). These were the privileges of his birthright, and by an Oriental patriarch were held as dear as life itself. On one occasion Esau returned faint and weary from the chase, and saw his brother Jacob preparing some dark red pottage of lentiles34. Famished and exhausted, he longed for the fragrant mess, and implored his brother to let him have it. Seeing his distress, Jacob determined to avail himself of it for his own ends, and agreed to give his brother the pottage on condition that he sold him his birthright. Unable to control the pangs of hunger, bent on the immediate gratification of his appetite, Esau was willing to barter all his privileges for a single meal. But words were not sufficient for his artful brother. He must have an oath solemnly attesting the exchange. Swear unto me, said he, and Esau swore, and sold his birthright for one morsel of meat (Heb. xii.16), and ate and drank, and rose up and went his way35.

At a subsequent period, in consequence of a grievous famine, Isaac left Lahai-roi, and journeyed southward to Gerar, within the fertile coast-line of Philistia. While here he received a warning from the Almighty against going down into Egypt, and was assured of the continuance of the same blessing which his father had enjoyed (Gen. xxvi. 1–5). Thus encouraged he continued to dwell at Gerar, but, like his father, was not always proof against temptations to distrust his Almighty Protector. He persuaded Rebekah to represent herself as his sister, and subjected himself to a cutting rebuke from Abimelech for this unworthy equivocation. At Gerar his wealth increased exceedingly, and he made the first advance beyond the purely pastoral life. He sowed in that land, and reaped within the year an hundred fold (Gen. xxvi.12). But his wealth and prosperity in time provoked the jealousy of the Philistines, and they stopped up the wells which his father had dug; nor did the patriarch feel himself secure till he had moved still further southward to Beersheba. Here, like Abraham before him, he built an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon His Name, and was rewarded by a second confirmation of the covenant Promise, while his contentions with the Philistines were brought to a close, and a mutual compact ratified between them (Gen. xxvi. 26–31). But his domestic happiness was not equally secured. To the great grief of both his parents, Esau, now 40 years of age, contracted an alliance with Judith the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon, both of the race of the Hittites, to whom he afterwards added Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael (Gen. xxvi.34; xxviii.9).

Of the greater portion of Isaac’s life at Beersheba the Scripture narrative tells nothing, nor is any incident recorded till we hear that he waxed old and his eyes grew dim so that he could not see. Then reminded of the uncertain tenure of life, he resolved by a solemn act to bestow the patriarchal blessing upon his eldest son. Summoning Esau before him, he bade him go forth to the hunt and bring him venison such as he loved, promising the blessing as his reward. His words did not escape the quick ears of Rebekah. Eager to obtain this important privilege for her favourite Jacob, she bade him, during the absence of his brother, slay two kids, with which she prepared savoury meat such as Isaac loved. Then arraying him in garments belonging to his brother, and placing the skins upon his hands and neck, she directed him to go into the presence of his father, and pass himself off as his wild, rough brother Esau. After some hesitation, Jacob fell in with her plan, and in the disguise she had prepared presented himself before his father. But Isaac, though old and dimsighted, was not free from his suspicions. To Jacob’s assurance that he had been to the chase and brought of the prey, he replied by enquiring how he had found it so quickly. Nor did the ready but untruthful answer that the Lord had brought it to him relieve his mind. Come near, said he, that I may feel thee, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near, and his father felt him. Another question, and another falsehood followed; and at length Jacob was bidden to present the venison that he had taken, and the old man ate and drank, and then bestowed upon him in all its fulness the Covenant Blessing. He prayed that God would give his son of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine; that He would make people to serve him, and nations to bow down to him, so that he might be lord over his brethren, and see his mother’s sons bow down to him, a blessing to all that blessed him, a curse to all that cursed him (Gen. xxvii. 28,29).

Thus successful in his shameful artifice, Jacob had scarcely gone forth from his father’s presence, when the true Esau returned from the chase. With savoury meat he too presented himself before Isaac, and besought his blessing. The old man trembled very exceedingly when he heard the voice of his eldest son, but told him that he had come too late. His brother, the Supplanter, had been before him, and the irrevocable words had been spoken. With a great and exceeding bitter cry Esau implored his father for one blessing which perchance might be left; and at length Isaac assured him that his dwelling would be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; but he must live by his sword and serve his brother, till the day when he too should gain the dominion, and should shake his brother’s yoke from off his neck36 (Gen. xxvii. 39,40).

Enraged at the deception which had been practised upon him, Esau did not conceal his design of revenging himself by putting Jacob to death, and only deferred it till the days of mourning for his father were ended, whose death he deemed to be near at hand. But his dark threat became known to Rebekah. Anxious to save her favourite son, she persuaded him to undertake a journey to his uncle Laban at Padan-Aram, promising, when a few days were over, and his brother’s wrath was appeased, to send for him again. Without communicating her real motive in urging this journey, she at the same time secured the acquiescence of Isaac, by pretending anxiety that Jacob should marry one of the daughters of Laban, rather than follow his brother’s example, and contract an alliance among the Hittites. Accordingly Isaac sent for his son, and bade him go to Padan-Aram, urging him to take thence a wife from amongst his own kindred, and then consciously and purposely transferred to him and his seed after him the blessing of Abraham (Gen. xxviii. 1–5).

THUS solemnly assured of the Covenant Blessing, Jacob bade farewell to his mother, whom he was never to see again, and set out a solitary traveller for the Eastern uplands of Aram, where in place of a few days he was destined to spend many weary years, and amidst many trials and vicissitudes to find the same measure that he had measured to his brother measured also to himself. As the sun went down on the first evening of his journey, he reached the site of one of Abraham’s encampments, the stony soil37 near the Canaanite town of Luz. Taking of the stones that lay around, he put them for his pillow, and lay down to sleep. As he slept, there appeared to him a vision of the night. A ladder seemed to rise up from the bare ground on which he lay, and the top of it reached even unto heaven, and on it he saw angels ascending and descending. Moreover from above there came the Voice of God assuring the wanderer of His protection, renewing to him the promise of Abraham, and encouraging him with the hope of return from exile. Jacob awoke trembling and afraid, Surely, said he, the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; how dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Then rising early, he took the stone that had formed his pillow, poured oil upon it, and set it up for a memorial, calling the spot Bethel, the House of God. At the same time he made a solemn vow that, if Jehovah would indeed sustain him in all his ways, and bring him back as He had promised, he would not only dedicate the spot as His House, but would give Him the tenth of all that he possessed (Gen. xxviii. 18–22).

Then he continued his journey, and striking in a north-easterly direction, at length reached a well in Padan-Aram, round which were gathered three flocks with shepherds from Haran. As he was conversing with them, Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, approached, and with true courtesy Jacob went near, rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flocks. He then kissed the maiden, and told her he was Rebekah’s son, whereupon she ran and told her father, who welcomed Jacob to the tents of Haran. After a stay of one month, Laban proposed that the wanderer should serve him as a shepherd, to which Jacob assented, and promised to serve him seven years on condition of receiving the hand of Rachel. The seven years passed away, and he who had supplanted his brother twice, now learnt what it was to be supplanted himself. On the evening of his marriage Laban substituted her sister Leah in place of Rachel; nor was the deceit discovered till the following morning, when, in answer to Jacob’s reproaches, he informed him that it was not customary to give the younger before the elder daughter, and that if he would have Rachel he must serve seven more years for her. To these hard conditions Jacob assented, and in the course of time became the father of a numerous family, eleven sons and one daughter. Of these, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and a daughter Dinah, were born to Leah; Dan and Naphtali to Bilhah Rachel’s maid, whom the latter, finding she had no children, gave to Jacob as a secondary wife; Gad and Asher to Zilpah, Leah’s maid; and Joseph to Rachel.

Shortly after the birth of this last son, Jacob having completed his time of service, proposed to Laban that he should return into his own country. But the latter, who had found by experience that his son-in-law had brought a blessing to his house, prevailed upon him to continue in his service, on condition of receiving a certain portion of the flocks as his hire. Six years longer, therefore, Jacob staid with his father-in-law, and prospered, and became himself the owner of numerous herds. But on Laban’s side the covenant was not strictly kept. Again and again he changed the wages of his faithful servant, till at length finding any longer stay rendered impossible by the envy and jealousy of his father-in-law and his sons, and encouraged by the Word of Jehovah, Jacob determined to set out for his native land. Accordingly, availing himself of Laban’s absence at a sheep-shearing, he gathered together all his goods, and with his wives and family crossed the river, the great river Euphrates (Gen. xxxi.21), and set his face towards the uplands of Gilead, on the east of Jordan. Three days after his departure, news of his flight reached the ears of Laban, who forthwith pursued after him a seven days’ journey, and overtook him as he was encamped in the range of Gilead. Warned by God in a dream against using any violence towards his son-in-law, Laban contented himself with reproaching him for his secret flight, hypocritically complaining that he had not given him time to send him away with due formality, and accusing him of stealing his household gods, the teraphim or images, which Rachel had taken and concealed in the camel’s furniture. After some altercation it was resolved to come to terms. Stones were gathered together, and set up as a Pillar of Witness, in token of their agreement that neither party to injure the other would cross over what was henceforth to be the boundary between their respective territories; after which Laban returned to his home in the distant East (Gen. xxxi. 43–55).

Thus relieved from pressing danger, Jacob continued his journey westward. The twenty years of exile was over, and he was bound for his native land. As if to welcome him thither, and to remind him of the fulfilment of God’s Promise, the angels, whom he had seen twenty years before in vision at Bethel, now met him in two hosts, to commemorate which event he named the spot Mahanaim (two hosts). He was now on the brink of the river which divided him from his father’s home, and the remembrance of his brother Esau and the uncertainty of the reception he might meet with from him caused the deepest anxiety. Sending messengers into the land of Seir, he informed his lord Esau of his return from the land of exile, and of the success that had attended him. The messengers went, and returned with the alarming intelligence that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob’s distress was extreme, and he poured forth his whole soul in fervent prayer to God for protection. Then selecting a valuable present from his flocks and herds, he sent them to meet and propitiate his approaching brother, and at midnight dispatched his wives and sons, and all that he had, across the ford Jabbok, but staid himself behind to renew his earnest supplications for the Divine protection. Through the night, even to the breaking of the day, there wrestled with him One (Hos. xii. 3,4), whom he knew not, and whose Name he could not prevail upon Him to reveal, but who left upon him a palpable mark of their mysterious conflict, for He touched the hollow of his thigh so that it was out of joint. But in memory of this same crisis in his life another sign was given him. His name was changed. No more was he to be called Jacob, the Supplanter. During the long years of his weary exile old things had passed away, and all things were becoming new. Henceforth he was to be known as Israel, the Prince of God, for as a Prince had he power with God and with man, and had prevailed (Gen. xxxii.28). The site of this memorable conflict Jacob named Peniel (the face of God). When the day broke he looked up, and saw Esau approaching with his retinue. Thereupon in long procession he went forth to meet him; first advanced the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah with their children, then followed Leah and her children, last of all Rachel and Joseph. Jacob himself led the way, bowing to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother, who ran to meet him, and fell upon his neck and kissed him. The reconciliation was complete. After mutual converse, Esau agreed to leave to Jacob the land of his inheritance, and retired himself to the rugged mountains of Seir38, whence he and his descendants expelled the aboriginal tribes, and dwelt in their stead in the land henceforth known as Edom or IdumÆa, a race of hunters living by the sword.

Meanwhile Jacob continued his journey towards the valley of the Jordan, and for a while settled at Succoth, where he puts up booths (Succoth) for his cattle, as well as a house for himself. Thence he moved westwards, and crossing the Jordan, advanced into the very heart of Palestine, and pitched his tent before the city of Shechem. Of Hamor its chief he subsequently bought a portion of the rich plain, east of the city, and here he settled down, and, like Abraham before him, erected an altar to Jehovah. During his stay at this place, which appears to have been somewhat protracted, an unfortunate occurrence caused him for a time the greatest anxiety, and eventually drove him from the neighbourhood. One day, on the occasion, it is not improbable, of some local festival, Dinah the daughter of Leah, at this time from thirteen to fifteen years of age, went out to see the daughters of the land, and was dishonoured by Shechem, the Hivite chieftain, in whose territory the patriarch had settled. His father Hamor thereupon proposed that his son should pay a certain sum, by way of reparation, to her father and mother for the injury he had done to the maiden and marry her, and that this should be followed by a general intermarriage between the two peoples. To this proposition the brothers of Dinah assented, but demanded, as the single condition of the treaty, that the people of Shechem should consent to be circumcised. These terms were unwittingly accepted by the Shechemites, and three days afterwards, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s own brothers, at the head of their households, attacked the city, slew the chiefs and all the males in the place, spoiled it of every article of value it contained, and took captive even the women and little children. This bloody and treacherous act excited Jacob’s deepest indignation, and shortly afterwards, fearful lest the neighbouring tribes should gather together and slay him and all his house, in accordance with a Divine warning, he determined to repair to Bethel and dwell there and perform the vow, which till now he seems almost to have forgotten. The journey partook somewhat of a religious pilgrimage, and was preceded by a general purification on the part of the patriarch’s followers, and a collection of the teraphim or strange gods, which had been brought from Mesopotamia, and were now hidden under an oak at Shechem. Arrived once more at the scene of his wondrous Vision, Jacob erected an altar, which he called El-Bethel, and here he was again visited by the Almighty, who renewed to him his name of Israel, and assured him of his share in the blessings of the Covenant (Gen. xxxv. 9–15). During his stay at Bethel his intimacy with his father Isaac, who was still alive, appears to have been renewed; for we are told that Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and was buried under an oak, henceforth known as Allon-Bachuth, the Oak of Tears. But his departure from the same place a day’s journey southwards was saddened by a grievous trial. As he drew near to Ephrath, the Canaanitish name of Bethlehem, Rachel his favourite wife died in giving birth to a son, whom she called Ben-oni, the son of sorrow, but whom his father named Benjamin, the son of my right hand. Over her grave the sorrowing husband erected a pillar, and moving southward pitched his tent beside Edar, or the watch-tower of the flocks, and subsequently beneath the oak of Mamre before Hebron, where Isaac died, in the 180th year of his age, and was committed to the tomb by Jacob and Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 27–29).

CHAPTER V.
HISTORY OF JOSEPH.
Gen. xxxvii.–xlii. B.C. 1727–1707.

IT was while he was sojourning in the neighbourhood of Hebron, where, like his father, he united agricultural with pastoral occupations (Gen. xxxvii.7) that the saddest trial of his life befell Jacob. Of all his sons none was dearer to him than Joseph, the child of his beloved Rachel. In token of his affection he bestowed upon him a coat of many colours, probably a tunic furnished with sleeves and reaching down to the ankles, worn by youths of the richer class39. By some this is supposed to indicate his intention of transferring to him, as being the eldest son of the favourite Rachel, the right of primogeniture. Whether this was so or not, it roused much jealousy and ill-feeling amongst Joseph’s brothers, already incensed by the circumstance of his bearing to his father, when seventeen years of age, an evil report of the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah, with whom he kept the flocks. Another incident fanned the flame of ill-feeling. Joseph unwittingly told his brethren of two dreams he had dreamt, in one of which he had seemed to see them binding sheaves in the field, and lo! his sheaf rose and stood upright, while their sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to his sheaf; in the other he beheld the sun, moon, and the eleven stars making obeisance to him. Even Jacob rebuked his favourite son for his seeming self-exaltation, though he observed the saying (Gen. xxxvii.11).

After a time an opportunity was presented to the brothers of taking a cruel revenge. Though Jacob was settled in the vale of Hebron, a portion of his numerous flocks and herds were kept by his sons on the rich pasture-grounds near Shechem. Thither on one occasion Jacob sent his favourite son to see how his brethren fared, and bring him word again. Joseph set out, and being directed by a man whom he met, to Dothan40, or “the Two Wells,” a place about twelve miles north of Shechem, famous for its pasturage, he went thither in quest of them. From the rising ground, where they were keeping their flocks, the brothers descried the Dreamer approaching, and straightway resolved to slay him and cast him into a pit, and then report to his father that he had been devoured by wild beasts. From actually putting him to death they were, however, dissuaded by Reuben, and contented themselves with stripping him of his coat of many colours, and casting him into an empty cistern, intending probably to let him die by hunger. But when they had done this, and had sat down to eat, a company of Ishmaelite or Midianite merchants (for the two names are used interchangeably) approached, mounted on camels, and bearing spicery and balm, going down the high road41 which passed near from Gilead to Egypt. Thereupon Judah proposed that they should sell him to these traders, and he was taken up from the pit, and sold to the Ishmaelites, who paid for him twenty pieces of silver, the usual price of a male slave from five to twenty years of age. Reuben was not present when the cruel bargain was struck, and was greatly distressed when, on his return, he found that his brother was gone. But the others killed a kid, dipped Joseph’s coat of many colours in its blood, and brought it to Jacob, with the hypocritical enquiry whether it was his son’s coat or no, and informing him that they had found it thus smeared with blood. Even Reuben did not reveal the true state of the case, and Jacob, supposing that his favourite son had been slain by wild beasts, put sackcloth upon his loins, and refusing every proffered consolation, mourned for him many days (Gen. xxxvii. 29–35).

Meanwhile the Midianitish caravan kept on its southward course, and eventually reaching Egypt, sold Joseph to Potiphar42, an officer of Pharaoh, and Captain of the Executioners (Gen. xxxviii.36 margin). In his house, Joseph though a foreigner and a slave, gradually won the confidence of his master, who appears to have been a wealthy man, and possessed of property in the field as well as in the house, so that before long, in the capacity of overseer, he was entrusted with the entire possessions of the Egyptian, and the Divine blessing rested upon his house for Joseph’s sake.

But this period of happiness and prosperity was destined to come to an abrupt termination. With the profligacy for which the Egyptian women were notorious, the wife of Potiphar on one occasion tempted Joseph to commit adultery with her, and when he resisted all her seductions, charged him to her husband with the very crime she had ineffectually tempted him to commit. Thereupon Potiphar, fully believing her story, without bringing his faithful steward before any public tribunal, cast him into the prison in his own house. But amidst this grievous trial Joseph was not forsaken. The Lord was with him, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison, who, convinced of his fidelity and uprightness, entrusted him with the care of all the prisoners there confined. Amongst these there soon appeared the Chief of Pharaoh’s Cupbearers, and the Chief of his Bakers, two high officers of the Egyptian court, on whom Joseph was specially directed to wait. During their imprisonment each of them dreamt a dream. The Chief of the Cupbearers dreamt that a vine was before him, on which were three branches; that it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes, that of these he took and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup which was in his hand, and gave it to that monarch. The Chief of the Bakers dreamt that he had three white baskets on his head, the uppermost full of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh, which the birds ate out of the baskets on his head. Convinced that these dreams portended events of great importance in their lives, and unable to interpret them, these high officers were filled with sadness. But Joseph, being informed of the cause, by virtue of his prophetic gifts interpreted the dreams, and announced to the Chief of the Butlers that within three days, on the anniversary of Pharaoh’s birthday, he should be restored to his office, while, within the same period, his fellow-prisoner would be hanged upon a tree, where the birds would eat his flesh from off him. As he had predicted, so it came to pass. Within the specified period, the one of these grandees was executed, and the other restored to his former high position. But though the Hebrew Captive had told the Chief of the Butlers his own sad story, in the hour of prosperity the restored grandee forgat his benefactor, and his touching request that he would intercede with Pharaoh on his behalf (Gen. xl. 12–23).

Two more years, therefore, of tedious imprisonment passed over Joseph’s head, when one night Pharaoh himself was troubled with two mysterious dreams. In the first he seemed to stand by the banks of the Nile, and behold out of it there came seven well-favoured kine and fatfleshed, and fed in the marsh grass that lined the banks. And behold after them there came up seven poor, ill-favoured, leanfleshed kine, and they ate up the seven well-favoured and fat kine, and when they had done so, it could not be known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ill-favoured as at the beginning. In his second dream, the monarch beheld seven ears of corn growing upon one stalk, full, fat, and good, and after them seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind, which devoured the seven full and fat ears. Troubled with these visions of the night he awoke, and sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof, and told them his dream, but they were unable to give him any interpretation. In this difficulty the Chief of the Butlers bethought him of his youthful benefactor in the prison, and told Pharaoh what had befallen him there, and how a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the Captain of the Executioners, had interpreted his dream. Upon this the monarch sent for Joseph, who was brought into the royal presence, and having been told the nature of the dreams, informed Pharaoh that they were sent by the great God to forewarn him of what He was about to do. The seven good kine and the seven good ears denoted seven years of plenty; the seven thin ill-favoured kine and the seven empty ears of corn denoted seven years of very grievous famine, about to befall the entire land of Egypt. The doubling of the dreams denoted that the event was certain and imminent. He advised, therefore, that without delay the monarch should set over the land a man discreet and wise, with overseers under him, to take up the fifth part of the land during the seven years of plenty, and lay up corn and food in various cities against the seven years of famine, which were assuredly to come (Gen. xli. 14–36).

This advice found favour in the eyes of Pharaoh, and deeming no other so well fitted for the post as the interpreter of his dreams, he appointed him to fill it, and, in token of his freedom, placed on his hand his own signet ring and a gold collar about his neck, and arraying him in vestures of fine linen, he caused him to ride in the second chariot that he had, preceded by heralds crying Bow the knee. Joseph was thus invested with the dignity of an Oriental Vizier, and could act in the name of the king. Besides these marks of honour, Pharaoh changed his name to Zaphnath-paaneah43, or the Revealer of Secrets, and united him in marriage with Asenath44, the daughter of Poti-pherah (devoted to Ra, or the Sun), priest or prince (Gen. xli.45 margin) of On, the later Heliopolis, and the religious capital of the country.

Thus at the age of thirty, after thirteen years of painful vicissitudes, the son of Jacob was elevated to the highest position next to the sovereign himself in the great kingdom of Egypt. In accordance with the plan he himself had indicated, he straightway commenced a tour throughout the land, and during the seven years of plenty bought up a fifth part of the corn in the country, and laid it up in granaries in the various cities. During the same period he became the father of two sons, to whom, though born of an Egyptian wife, he gave Hebrew names, calling the first-born Manasseh, “a Forgetter;” for God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house. The second he named Ephraim, “Fruitful;” for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. At the close of the seven years of plenty, the seven years of dearth drew on, and its effects were felt not only in Egypt, but in all the neighbouring lands. During the first part of this period, the wants of the people were relieved by the abundance which the foresight of the Vizier had stored up. He opened all his granaries and sold unto the Egyptians, delivering over the money into Pharaoh’s exchequer. When money failed, barter was resorted to, and the Egyptians obtained bread in exchange for their horses, cattle, and flocks. When at length these means were exhausted, they sold him their land, except that of the priests, who, being provided from the royal treasury, did not feel the horrors of the famine. Thus possessed of the entire country, Joseph improved the opportunity to place the relations between the Egyptian monarch and his people on a settled and legal footing. He made them, indeed, vassals of their sovereign, but in place of allowing them to be taxed according to royal caprice, he disposed of the land to them, on the understanding that four parts were to be their own, for seed of the field, and for food for them and their families, while a fifth part was to be paid annually to the king in place of ground-rent; an arrangement by no means oppressive, when it is considered that the soil sometimes yielded thirty-fold, or even a greater increase (Gen. xli. 46–57).

At an early period during the seven years of famine, ten of Joseph’s brethren went down into Egypt at the suggestion of their father, and presented themselves before him with the petition to be allowed to buy corn. In the Viceroy, second only to the great Pharaoh, they did not for a moment recognize the boy whom twenty years before they had lowered into the dry pit at Dothan. But though Joseph knew them, and recognized the fulfilment of his early dreams, he did not reveal himself to them. Through an interpreter he spake roughly unto them, pronounced them to be spies who had come down to see the nakedness of the land, and when they denied the charge, declared they should be imprisoned till one of them had brought down their youngest brother. For three days he actually kept them in ward, and finally, on condition that one remained behind as a hostage, permitted them to return with corn for their families. Stricken with remorse, and not imagining that the Viceroy could understand their language, they acknowledged that their sin had found them out, and recalled the day when they saw the anguish of their brother, and turned a deaf ear to his beseeching entreaties that they would not deal hardly with him. Then Simeon was bound before their eyes, and sad and sorrowful they commenced their return. But on the road they had fresh cause for alarm and confusion. On opening their sacks they discovered not only that corn had been supplied them, but that their money had been restored to them. Marvelling at this strange circumstance, they reached home, and recounted to their father all that had befallen them, and how he could not hope to see Simeon again till they returned with their youngest brother Benjamin into the presence of the Viceroy of Egypt. On hearing this hard condition, Jacob burst forth into bitter complaints, and though Reuben offered the life of his two children as a pledge for Benjamin’s safe return, absolutely refused to allow him to accompany them; his brother, said he, is dead, and he is left alone; if mischief befall him by the way, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave (Gen. xlii.38).

CHAPTER VI.
JACOB’S DESCENT INTO EGYPT—DEATH OF JOSEPH.
Gen. xliii.–l. B.C. 1707–1635.

BUT as time went on, and the corn the Brothers had brought from Egypt was consumed, it became absolutely necessary to go thither a second time, if they would live and not die. Without Benjamin, however, they knew the journey would be useless, and Benjamin their father would not send. At length Judah stood forward as spokesman for the rest, and offered to bear for ever in his own person the blame, if any evil befell him, till after a struggle Jacob consented. With a present of such things as the land afforded, a little balm, a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds, with double money also in their hand, the brothers took Benjamin from his sorrowing father, and once more commenced their journey to Egypt. Arrived there they were again presented to the Viceroy, who perceiving that Benjamin was with them, ordered the steward of his house to conduct them home, and to slay and make ready, that they might dine with him at noon. Full of fear, the brothers followed the steward, and on the way informed him of their surprise, when on their return from their previous visit, they found their money in their sacks. The steward, however, answered them kindly, restored Simeon to them, and brought them water to wash their feet. At noon Joseph returned, and the brothers spread out the present their father had sent, bowing themselves before him to the earth. After some questions touching the welfare of the old man they had left in the land of Canaan, he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and his whole soul yearned towards him, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. Thence having washed his face he returned, commanded the attendants to set on bread, and the brothers sat down ranged each according to his age. Joseph sat at a table by himself, and the Egyptians in his retinue by themselves; for to eat bread with the Hebrews was regarded by them as an abomination. Then from Joseph’s table portions were sent to his brethren, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as great as any of theirs, and they drank and were merry with him (Gen. xliii.34).

The next morning, as soon as it was light, with sacks replenished, and rejoicing at the successful termination of their journey, the sons of Jacob commenced their return to Canaan. But they had proceeded only a little way from the city, when the Steward of Joseph overtook them, and charged them with returning evil for all the good they had received, and stealing the silver divining cup45 (Gen. xliv.5) belonging to his master. In the full assurance of their innocence, the brothers not only denied the charge, but declared their willingness that the guilty one should die, and the rest become bondmen to the Viceroy. The sacks were, therefore, taken from the asses, and lo! in Benjamin’s sack, where it had been purposely placed by Joseph’s command, the cup was found. Horror-struck at the discovery, the brothers returned to the house, and flinging themselves on the ground before Joseph, expressed their resolution to become slaves with Benjamin rather than return without him to his heart-broken father. In the dialogue that ensued Judah was again the chief speaker. God, he owned, had found out their iniquity, and they and he with whom the cup had been found would become Joseph’s bondmen. To this, however, Joseph would not consent; he with whom the cup had been found, he alone need remain behind in servitude, the rest might return in peace to their father. Then Judah went near to him, who was even as Pharaoh (Gen. xliv.18), and in words of utmost pathos related how in obedience to his command, their father had with great difficulty been prevailed on to suffer the child of his old age to accompany them, and how, if he failed to return, he would certainly die, for his life was bound up in the life of his favourite son. Nay, more, he continued, he himself had become surety for the lad, and was now ready, rather than bring down the old man’s grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, to remain alone in the land of Egypt a bondman unto his lord, if only Benjamin and the rest might return into the land of Canaan (Gen. xliv. 18–34).

As Judah proceeded with his moving tale, Joseph could restrain himself no longer. He desired every man to leave the chamber, and he and his brethren were left alone. Then, amidst many tears, he at length broke forth with the astounding words I am Joseph, coupling the revelation with the enquiry Doth my father yet live? But the brothers were too terrified to answer him a word. Thereupon he bade them come near unto him, and again assured them that he was Joseph, their brother, whom they had sold to the Midianitish caravan. Let them not, he said, be grieved that they had sold him into Egypt. God, who orders all things, had sent him thither before them to preserve their lives, and had made him a father unto Pharaoh, and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Instead of repining for the past, let them return to the old man, their father, and tell him of all his glory in Egypt, and bring him down, and settle, they and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all that they had, in the goodly country of Goshen, frontier. Having thus at length poured forth his pent up feelings, Joseph fell upon Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and kissed him, and likewise all his brethren. Tidings of what had occurred soon reached the ears of Pharaoh, who readily assented to Joseph’s wish that his father should be suffered to settle in the land. Waggons were then made ready to bring him and all that he had; ample provisions were supplied for the journey, and rich presents bestowed upon all the brothers, but especially on Benjamin. Then with a parting charge to see that they fell not out by the way (Gen. xlv.24), the sons of Jacob returned to their father, and recounted to him all the strange events that had befallen them. The long lost Joseph, the son of the beloved Rachel, was alive, nay, he was governor over all the land of Egypt. At the first announcement Jacob’s heart failed him, nor could he believe their words. But when the waggons that Joseph had provided came in sight, then at length his spirit revived, and he exclaimed, It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die (Gen. xlv.28).

To forsake, however, the familiar pasture grounds of Hebron, to leave the soil promised to him and to his seed for ever, required of the patriarch no little resolution. Abraham had gone down to Egypt, but only to involve himself in great difficulties; Isaac had been on the point of going thither, when he was restrained by the hand of God (Gen. xxvi.2). Did the Divine Blessing rest on that journey, which an imperious necessity now induced him to essay? Jacob was not long left in doubt. On reaching Beersheba the Almighty appeared to him in vision, and bade him lay aside all apprehensions. In Egypt, in the land of the mighty Pharaohs, He would not fail to protect him, there He would make him a great nation, and thence in the fulness of time He would bring his seed back to the Land of Promise. Thus encouraged Jacob arose from Beersheba, and with his sons, their wives, and their little ones, their herds, their flocks, and all the goods they had gotten in the land of Canaan, commenced his journey. Judah led the way, and on the frontier of Egypt the patriarch met his long lost son, and fell upon his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Arrived in the land of the Pharaohs, five of Joseph’s brethren were introduced to the reigning monarch. They told him that they were shepherds, that they had come down into Egypt in consequence of the severity of the famine, and requested permission to settle as strangers and foreigners in Goshen, the most easterly frontier-land of Egypt, and offered to become guardians of the royal herds. Permission was granted, and Jacob himself was introduced to Pharaoh, and bestowed his blessing upon the monarch (Gen. xlvii. 1–10).

The period of Jacob’s own sojourning in the land of Ham (Ps. cv.23) was limited to seventeen years, at the close of which he had reached the age of 147, and perceived that his end was nigh. Informed that his father was sickening, Joseph brought his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh and placed them before his bedside. Guiding his hands wittingly, the aged patriarch stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, though he was the firstborn. At this Joseph was displeased, and would have altered the disposition of his father’s hands. But Jacob refused, and with his hands as they were, bestowed upon the young men and their father his solemn and abiding blessing. Though born in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh were to be reckoned as his own sons, and would both grow into great tribes. But as it had been in Jacob’s own case, so would it be with them; the younger brother would be greater than the elder, and his seed should become a multitude of nations. Then turning to Joseph the Patriarch bestowed on him a special mark of affection, even one portion above his brethren, a piece of land which with his sword and his bow he had conquered from the Amorites, probably outside the green vale of Shechem (Gen. xlviii.22, Josh. xvii. 14,&c.).

And now the day drew nigh when the Patriarch’s eventful life must close. Wishing by virtue of the gift of prophecy, which gained greater power the nearer he approached the borders of the eternal world, to tell them that which should befall them in the last days, he desired that his sons might be summoned to his bedside. Obedient to his word, they gathered round him, and then in prophetic trance “but having his eyes open,” he beheld the mighty vision of the future, and predicted their several fortunes in the land, through which he himself had wandered as a pilgrim for more than one hundred years. First, before him stood Reuben, over whom in the tents of Laban he had rejoiced as his firstborn, his might, and the beginning of his strength. To him by the law of primogeniture belonged the headship of the family, and the double inheritance. But he had proved unworthy of his vocation. Unstable as water, he should not excel. Next in order of their birth came Simeon and Levi. Brethren of one mother, they had been also brethren in cruelty and deceit. In their conduct towards the Shechemites they had proved the fierceness of their anger, and the cruelty of their disposition. Unworthy were they to be the head of a nation which was to be a blessing and not a curse to all peoples of the earth, therefore were they to be divided in Jacob, and scattered in Israel. Next came Judah, and to him the patriarch could assign a portion at least of the blessing of the firstborn. His should be the pre-eminence in power and dignity, him should his brethren praise, before him should his father’s children bow down; his should be the Sceptre and the Lawgiver, nor from beneath his feet should they ever depart, till Shiloh, the Peaceable or Peace-maker came46 (Gen. xlix. 1–10).

Having thus transferred the privileges of the firstborn to Judah and predicted the fortunes of his other sons, the dying Patriarch once more solemnly adjured them, as he had already adjured Joseph, not to leave his bones in Egypt, but to carry them into the land of Hope and Promise, and lay them in the cave of Machpelah, in the family-grave of his fathers, and then he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost. Obedient to such reiterated commands, Joseph caused his father’s body to be embalmed in the Egyptian fashion by the physicians, and obtained permission from Pharaoh to accompany his remains to the burial-place he had marked out for them. Then at the head of a numerous retinue, composed not only of the members of his own family, but also of the court-officers of Pharaoh, and the grandees of the empire, and accompanied by chariots and horsemen, he set out. The nearest road would have been by Gaza, and through the territory of the Philistines. Instead of this, the funeral procession took a long circuitous route round Mount Seir47 and the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and halted at the threshing-floor of Atad, on the east side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho. Here seven days were spent in solemn mourning, and so grievous was the lamentation that the Canaanites of the Jordan valley called the spot Abel-Mizraim, the Meadow, or the Mourning of the Egyptians. Further than this point the Egyptian retinue do not seem to have proceeded. The sons of Jacob alone crossed the Jordan, into the land of Canaan, and laid their father in the cave of Machpelah, by the side of Abram, Isaac, and Sarah (Gen. l. 1–13).

The funeral over, Joseph and his brethren returned to Egypt. Fearful now their father was dead that the Viceroy would requite them for all the evil they had done towards him, the sons of Jacob sent a messenger to intercede in their behalf. But Joseph calmed their fears, and assured them of safety and protection. Together, then, they dwelt in peace and security in the land of Goshen; and Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation, and the children of Machir the son of Manasseh brought up upon his knees. At length, when he had reached the age of 110, perceiving that his end was near, he sent for his brethren, and having assured them that God would certainly visit them, and bring them up out of Egypt into the land which He had promised to their forefathers, and taken an oath of them that they would remove his bones into the same Good Land, he died, and was embalmed, and laid in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. l.26).

Note.
SURVEY OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE.

With the death of Joseph the Patriarchal Age of Israel’s history may be said to close. The Family had now thrown out many branches, and was on the point of merging into the Nation. At this juncture, then, it may be well to look back, and review some of the chief features of Patriarchal Life.

i. And the first of these that claims attention is its Nomadic character. Unlike the founders of Egypt, of Babylon, of Nineveh, the Patriarchs were not the builders of cities and towns, but pilgrims and sojourners, dwellers in tents (Heb. xi.9). But they were very different from rude hordes, like the Amalekites and other “sons of the desert,” abhorring any higher mode of life. Abraham was no stranger to the highest form of civilization that his age afforded. He was acquainted with Ur, with Nineveh, with Damascus, with Egypt; he had left his home in one of the chief cities of Mesopotamia, not from choice, but in consequence of a direct personal call from God. Moreover, so far from regarding his present mode of life as an ultimate end, he and Isaac and Jacob, were ever looking forward to a time when it would close, when their descendants should be settled in the Land of Promise, and become a great nation, when the portable tent should give way to the city that had foundations (Heb. xi.10, 13–16; comp. Gen. xxiv.7; xxviii.4; xlix. 1–27; l.24). Hence, from time to time, as opportunity offered, we see the wandering life freely and willingly laid aside. Lot settled in Sodom (Gen. xiii. 10–12); Abraham in Egypt went direct to Pharaoh’s court (Gen. xii.14); at Hebron he settled and became a “prince of God” in the midst of the Hittites (Gen. xxiii.6); Isaac not only lived near the Philistines, but occupied a house opposite the palace (Gen. xxvi.8), and practised agriculture (Gen. xxvi.12); and Joseph’s dream of the sheaves points out that this was also continued in the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxvii. 7)48.

ii. The Family was the centre of the Patriarchal commonwealth. Its head was the source of authority and jurisdiction; he possessed the power of life and death (Gen. xxxviii.24); he united in himself the functions of chief and priest; he offered the burnt-offering; he had his armed retainers (Gen. xiv.14; xlviii.22; xxxiv.25; xxxiii.20); his intercourse with his wives (for polygamy was not forbidden) was free and unrestrained; the wife’s consent was asked before wedlock (Gen. xxiv. 57,58); love hallowed the relations of Abraham with Sarah, of Isaac with Rebekah, of Jacob with Leah and Rachel; woman, indeed, did not occupy the position since conceded to her, but her position was far from degraded, and the sanctity of the marriage-bond was defended by severe laws, which made death the punishment for adultery (Gen. xxxviii.24). Slavery, it is true, existed, but in the tents of Abraham the slave was ever treated with consideration, and not excluded from, but made a partaker of religious privileges (Gen. xvii.13). The fidelity and attachment of Eliezer the steward of Abraham’s house, the mourning for Deborah Rebekah’s nurse (Gen. xxxv.8), are pleasing proofs of the peace that reigned in the Patriarchal household.

iii. Civilization. The life of the Patriarchs was chiefly that of the shepherd, and their wealth mainly consisted in their flocks and their herds. But besides practising agriculture they were not unacquainted with money and the precious metals. Abraham paid for the field of Machpelah with coin (Gen. xxiii. 9–20), and the sons of Jacob took money with them into Egypt (Gen. xlii. 25,35); while the gold ring and armlets presented to Rebekah by Eliezer (Gen. xxiv.22), the bracelet and signet ring of Judah (Gen. xxxviii.18), the ear-rings of Rachel (Gen. xxxv.4), the many-coloured coat of Joseph, indicate an acquaintance with the luxuries of life.

iv. Religion. While other nations were rapidly learning to deify the powers of nature, the Patriarchs believed not only in a God above and beyond nature, but in a God Personal, Omnipotent, and Holy. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was no mere abstraction, no mere law. He could and did reveal Himself by angelic appearances, by visions, by dreams; He could console, strengthen, encourage; He could punish, rebuke, and on repentance forgive. Abraham, the Friend of God (Jas. ii.23), intercedes with Him in behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xviii. 23–33); Isaac is warned by Him against going down into Egypt (Gen. xxvi.2); Jacob is consoled by Him at Bethel when setting out into the land of exile (Gen. xxviii. 13–15), and wrestles with Him by the fords of Jabbok till the break of day (Gen. xxxii.24); Joseph believes in His invisible but ever-present help in prison and in a strange land, and ascribes to Him all his wisdom in the interpretation of dreams (Gen. xli.16). The Divine Promise of a great future Abraham believed under circumstances of greatest trial, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness (Rom. iv.3). Moreover the God of the Patriarchs was no mere “national or household God.” His sphere of operation was not restricted to the Patriarchs and their families; He is the God of all the earth (Gen. xxiv.3), the God of Righteousness and Holiness. He punishes the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. xix. 24,25); He plagues Pharaoh’s house (Gen. xii.17); He is the God of the priest-king Melchizedek (Gen. xiv.18), and of the Philistine Abimelech (Gen. xx.3); He protects not only Isaac the “child of promise,” but the outcast Ishmael the “child of the bondwoman” (Gen. xxi.13); He is with Joseph in prison, but He sends dreams to Pharaoh, and through Joseph He saves Egypt from famine (Gen. l.20).

v. The Religious Worship of the Patriarchs was in keeping with the simplicity of their creed. The head of the family was also the priest of the family. Whenever Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, reached any new spot in their pilgrimage, they invariably erected an altar, generally of stone and on a high situation (Gen. xxii.9; xxvi.25; xxxv.7); there they called on the name of Jehovah, there they presented their burnt sacrifice, there they offered up their prayers. Their history also proves the existence of offering covenant-sacrifices, and celebrating covenant-feasts (Gen. xv. 9–18; xxi.32); the making and paying of vows (Gen. xxviii.23); the erection of memorial pillars, and the consecration of them by pouring upon them oil and wine (Gen. xxviii.18); the rite of circumcision (Gen. xvii. 10–14); and the paying of tithes (Gen. xiv. 20)49.

vi. The Character of the Patriarchs is never represented as perfect, their faults are freely exposed, theirs is no ideal history. If we compare the four most eminent amongst them, we seem to trace in (i)Abraham, “the faith that can remove mountains” in its power and in its fulness, revealing itself in unfaltering trust and unquestioning obedience under the most trying circumstances conceivable; in (ii)Isaac, the faith that can possess itself in patience, and discharge the ordinary duties of life in quietness and waiting; in (iii)Jacob, the violent contest of faith with the flesh, the higher with the lower nature, till by hard discipline the latter is purified, and the “Supplanter” becomes the “Prince,” the “Prevailer with God;” in (iv)Joseph, the fidelity and perseverance of faith, revealed not only in the patient endurance of the most grievous trials, but in energetic action, and at length crowned with victory. “He unites in himself the noble trust and resolution of Abraham, with the quiet perseverance of Isaac, and the careful prudence of Jacob.” He is moreover an eminent historic type of Christ, in (1)his persecution and sale by his brethren, (2)his resisting temptation, (3)his humiliation and exaltation, (4)his dispensing to a famine-stricken people the bread of life, (5)in the fulness of his forgiving love50.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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