And Jacob said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me, and if men should over-drive them one day, all the flock will die.

Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his ser vant: and I will lead on softly according as the cattle that goeth before me, and the children be able to endure: until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me and Jacob said, What need eth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord?

So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

We learn from another part of Sacred History, that Esau and his family had driven out the Horims, or Horites, who dwelt in mount Seir, and settled them. selves in the land *. This happened while Jacob was in Mesopotamia; Esau therefore became a prince, while Jacob was only a servant; this consideration, added to the consciousness of his offence, might induce Jacob to approach his brother in the humble manner which is described in this section. By calling Esau his lord, and himself Esau's servant, Jacob certainly did not mean to give up his spiritual advantages, but merely to shew his respect, as is still the custom among men who style persons of rank their lords, and themselves their servants, without, owing them' any particular homage.

From Esau's affectionate behaviour to Jacob, we may infer that he was not upon the whole of a bad disposition; for no one could testify more generosity and kind

* Deut. ii. 12.

ness than he did upon this occasion; the great fault in his character was, slighting the Divine promises.

It is observable, that of the two, Esau appears to have had the highest joy, for his had no alloy. It gave him the sincerest delight to press to his bosom, a brother whom long absence had endeared; he had the farther: satisfaction of shewing his generosity, by freely forgiving: former offences. It was an additional pleasure to receive such an accession of new relations: Women whose virtues rendered them ornaments to the family,': promising youths, and innocent children. On the other hand, the joy which arose in Jacob's bosom was evidently chastised with fear; still it was joy, and cheaply purchased by that humiliation, which on this occasion it was his duty to shew.

Jacob's expression, "I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God," implies, that he could not be satisfied without offering something by way of atonement, which he hoped his brother would receive and regard in that light. To have refused his present would have been unkind; by accepting it, Esau removed his brother's apprehensions, and quieted his conscience. He regarded the present, not only as an atonement for past offences, but as a pledge of future kindness.

but

It is likely Jacob had other reasons, besides those he mentioned, for not attending his brother to mount Seir, as he appears to have been of a good natured, gentle disposition, we may readily believe, that he had, as he professed to have, a tender regard to the children and cattle.

Having seen the Host of the LORD, Jacob would have been very blameable had he accepted of a guard from Esau.

We are not told, why Jacob did not follow his brother to Seir; but it is likely that, upon reflection, he thought

it wrong to go thither, as he had received a Divine command to return into the land of his kindred; besides, he must have an urgent desire to see his father. Rebekah is supposed to have died during his absence.

As such constant travelling was very fatiguing to his family, and his cattle were near having young ones, it was very prudent in Jacob to stop for a time. The house he built, was, in all probability, little more than a tent. In building booths for his cattle, he gave another instance of benevolence, worthy of imitation.

There is something so truly interesting in the account which is here given of the reconciliation between the two brothers, that every reader must feel its force. May those, who, like Esau, have met with treatment that appears injurious, be ready to take example from his noble conduct; and may all who have, like Jacob, brought displeasure upon themselves, by indirect practices, be as ready as he was, to subdue resentment by proper concessions; then will each party know, from happy experience, "how good and joyful a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity* !"

SECTION XLII.

GOD APPEARETH TO JACOB HE PUTTETH AWAY IDOLS. From Genesis, Chap. xxxiii. xxxiv. xxxv.

And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram ; and pitched his tent before the city.

And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

*Psalm cxxxiii, 1.

1

And he erected there an altar, and called it EleloheIsrael; that is, GOD, the God of Israel.

And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto GoD that appeared unto thee, when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

Then Jacob said unto his houshold, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments :

And let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will, make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand,, and all their ear-rings, which were their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak that was by Shechem,

And they journeyed: and the terror of GoD was upon the cities that were round about them; and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob,

So Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan (that is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel: because there GoD appeared unto him, when he fed from the face of his brother.

And GoD appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Padan-aram: and blessed him.

And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and he called his name Ismael.

And God said unto him, I am GOD ALMIGHTY, be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

And

And Gop went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where Gop talked with him, even a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon, and called the place Beth-el.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

As the son of Isaac, and the grandson of Abraham, Jacob had received many blessings; but he had lately been made a Prince under the title of Israel, and as such, was to give a name to a people. He wisely considered that a people, unless under the guidance and protection of God, can have no security; his first care, therefore, on his arrival in that country, which was destined to be the future inheritance of his descendants, was to purchase a piece of ground for the express purpo purpose of consecrating it to the LORD; here he built an altar, that he might occasionally assemble his family to join in those sacrifices, which, as has been already observed, made a principal part of the religion of the Patriarchs; but it seems he did not fully accomplish his design. *

At this place Jacob might have lived very happily; for the people of the adjacent country were extremely courteous to him: but, through the indiscretion of his daughter Dinah, an unhappy difference arose between the Shechemites and Jacob's sons; in which the latter behaved with such outrageous cruelty, as brought an odium upon the whole family; so that Jacob began to fear a conspiracy would be raised against him by the rest of the Canaanites, and on this account he resolved to remove. While Jacob was deliberating where to fix his habitation, he received a Divine command to go to Bethel. Jacob well remembered his solemn vow, that if he returned in peace, he would consider the pillar which he set up at Bethel as God's house.

2.