SECTION XXII.

General remarks on the prophecy of Jacob to Benjamin, and on the birth-right of Joseph.

Benjamin was the youngest of Jacob's sons, and was born of the barren, but beloved Rachel, who died after giving him birth, and "called his name— "Benoni" (the son of sorrow :) but his father called him Benjamin.") (the son of the right-hand.) (Gen. xxxv. 18.)

The wife of Jacob's earliest and deepest affections, to obtain whom he had served his father Laban many years, after a long period of sterility, presented him. at last with two sons, and expired after giving birth to the second. With her last breath she gave him the name "Benoni "—the " son of pain and sorrow."-It might well have been imagined that a dying wish, under such affecting circumstances, would be held most sacred by the bereaved husband; and that Jacob would have adopted this touching memorial of her fate, which his wife with her parting breath had desired. There could have been only some very

powerful over-ruling consideration, which could have induced him to disregard a wish so expressed.

Yet Jacob did reject this expressive name, so calculated to excite his tenderest feelings of regret and pity, and called him " Benjamin," "son of the righthand." It was the desire of the Patriarch, by the name conferred on his youngest son, to preserve the memory, not of his beloved Rachel's pain and grief, but of her peculiar privilege, and dignity. She was his right-hand—and why? Because, after an apparent hopeless state of barrenness, it was she who was destined, by the Almighty disposer of events, to give birth to the two last of those twelve sons, who were to be the founders of the confederate nation of Israel. It was her destiny, to be the mother of the first-born of those two younger sons, and upon him that mysterious birth-right was conferred, which Jacob had himself obtained, by divine permission, from his brother Esau. Thus Rachel was, in truth, Jacob's " right-hand "being the mother of him, who, instead of Reuben, was to inherit the birth-right.

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The figurative language employed to describe the blessings of this birth-right, on the three several occasions, on which it was announced, is very similar. It was conferred in a spirit of prophecy by Isaac on Jacob; by Jacob on Joseph; and by Moses on Joseph. By Isaac, it is compared to "the dew of heaven" (that refreshing moisture which fertilizes the whole earth, and causes it to bring forth its fruits

in due season)-to "the fatness of the earth "(that principle of fertility, which is not confined to one country, but pervades all the habitable globe,) -to" plenty of corn and wine," (that "wine, which maketh glad the heart of man"-not as a sensual stimulant alone, but by its refreshing grace, as a sacramental type of the precious blood of the New Testament, which has been "shed for many, for the remission of sins.")" That bread, which strengthens man's heart"-(not as a nourishment to the body only, but as a sacramental emblem of that sacred body, which has been given for us.)

In like manner, Jacob pronounces upon Joseph "the blessings of Heaven above; " and compares him to "a fruitful bough: " and Moses also describes the blessing of Joseph as distinguished" for the precious things of Heaven, for the dew; and for the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof."

Isaac, in blessing Jacob, says,

"Let people serve Thee; and nations bow down to Thee." And Jacob declared that his blessing on Joseph, prevailed far beyond the confines of the land promised to his father Abraham and Isaac.-" The blessings," he says,-" of thy Father, have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills."

Finally, Moses foretels, that the horns of Joseph "shall push the people together to the ends of the earth."

These figurative expressions, applied to the birthright, all concur in the representation of superabundant fertility, universal extension, and a free and bounteous dispensation of joy and gladness.

Thus, also, David in the 67th Psalm :-" Let all the people praise Thee, O God!"-" Then shall the earth bring forth her increase; and God, even our own God, shall give us His blessing. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him."

The final increase and extension of God's true religion throughout all the earth, under the fertilizing influence of His grace, was the patriarchal birth-right. This glorious birth-right was taken from Esau the elder, and bestowed on Jacob, the younger son of Isaac. It was taken from Reuben, the eldest of Jacob's sons, and bestowed upon Joseph, the firstborn of his two youngest by the barren Rachel. Its object was distinct from the mere genealogy of the expected Shiloh for it was given-" not unto Judah and his sons, but unto the sons of JOSEPH the son of Israel." (1 Chron. v. 2.)

Therefore, was the last-born son of her, who was nother of this birth-right, not called "Benoni," a "son of sorrow"-but "" Benjamin," the "son of the right hand" of the promise.

The history of Benjamin, as Joseph's younger brother, accords with our general conceptions of such a position. His privileges were rather derivative, than primary. They had no reference to any peculiar des

tiny of his own, but were dependent on his near connection with his elder brother. As their father Jacob had blessed Joseph, so did Joseph confer his own blessing on Benjamin. "He lifted up his eyes and saw

Benjamin his mother's son, and said-God be gracious unto thee my son." (Gen. xliii. 29.) And, when his brethren feasted in his presence, Benjamin's mess was five times as much as any of theirs. He ordered the silver cup to be placed in Benjamin's sack, that he might have a pretext for detaining him near his person. When he made himself known, "he fell on Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck." To his other brethren, he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment." (Gen. xlv. 14-22. These were all acts recognising the position of his younger brother as identical with, though secondary to, his

own.