ticular Revelation about him; nay it is evident he had received none; for he defigned to tell him, what God never intended fhould belong to him. Ifaac called Efau, and not Jacob, because he loved him more than he loved Jacob, and he loved him more, because Esau gat him Venifon; but Jacob's Courfe of Life lay another way: Rebekah faw the low Springs of her Husband's Affection to his Children, and that he was going to promife the Bleffing of Abraham, where his Affection led him to with it, and not where, by having made Inquiry, fhe knew that God defigned to beftow it: Hereupon fhe refolved if (w) poffible to prevent him, and therefore fent for Jacob, and propofed to him a Scheme for his obtaining the Bleffing which his Father defign'd to give to Efau : Jacob was at firft in great Perplexity about it; was afraid his Father fhould find out the Deceit, and instead of bleffing him, be provoked to curfe him for endeavouring to impose upon him; but Rebekah was fo well affured, that God defigned to blefs Jacob, and that her whole Crime in this Attempt was only an Endeavour to deceive Ifaac into an Action, which he ought to have duly informed himfelf of, and to have done defignedly, that he took the Curfe wholly upon herfelf, and perfuaded Jacob to come into her Measures: One thing is remarkable, that when the Artifice had fucceeded, and Jacob was bleffed, Ifaac let it nay he confirmed the Bleffing, Yea (fays he)

go,

(w) Gen. xxvii.

and

and he fhall be bleffed. We do not find that he was either difpleafed with his Wife, or angry with Jacob for impofing upon him; bút tho' he had before appeared full of Fears and Cares left Efan fhould be defeated (x), yet now he expreffed himself fully fatisfied with what he had done. I cannot but think, that it pleased God at this time to open his Understanding, and to convince him, that he had given the Bleffing to the right Perfon. Before this time he faid nothing but what any uninspired Perfon might have faid (y): He wifhed his Son of the Dew of Heaven and the Fatness of the Earth, and plenty of Corn and Wine, adding fuch other Circumftances of Profperity as his Affection dictated; but faying nothing that can intimate him to have had any particular View of any Thing that was to happen to him; but now he began to speak with a better Sense of Things, he ftill wifhed Efau all poffible Happinefs, the Fatness of the Earth and the Dew of Heaven (x); but he knew, that the particular Bleffings promifed to Abrabam and his Seed, did not belong to him; he could now enter into his future Life, and tell the Circumftances of his Pofterity, and relate to him what should happen in After-days; defcribe how he and his Defcendants fhould live; acquaint him, that his Brother's Children fhould indeed be their Governors; but that there fhould come a Time, when his Children fhould

(x) Gen. xxvii. 18, 21, 24. (x) Ver. 39.

(y) Ver. 27-29.

get

get the Dominion, and break his Brother's Yoke from off their Necks (+); a Particular accomplished not until almoft nine hundred Years after this Prediction of it; for this Prophefy was fulfilled, when the Land of Edom, peopled by the Children of Efau, who had been brought into Subjection to the Seed of Jacob by King David (a), revolted in the Days of Jehoram (b), and fet up a King of their own, and brake the Yoke of Jacob off their Neck, being never after that Time any more subject to any of the Kings of Judah (c):

Efau was exceedingly provoked at his Brother's thus obtaining the Bleffing from him, and determined, as foon as his Father fhould be dead, to kill him (d). Rebekah heard of his Intentions, and thought the most likely way to prevent Mischief, would be to fend Jacob out of the Way. She applied herself therefore to Ifaac, mentioned to him the Misfortune of Efau's Marriages, and the Comfort they might have of Jacob, if he would take care to difpofe of himself better; fo that Ifaac fent for Jacob, and charged him not to take a Wife of the Daughters of Canaan, but ordered him to go into Mefopotamia, and enquire for the Family of Bethuel his Mother's Father, and get one of Laban's Daughters for a Wife, and that if he did fo, God would certainly bless him (e), and give him the Blessing of

(1) Gen. xxvii. 40. (a) 2 Sam. viii. 14. (b) 2 Kings viii. 20-22. (c) See Archbishop Ufher's Annals. Prideaux Connect. Vol. I. p. 11. (d) Gen. xxvii. 41. (e) Chap. xxviii. the Hebrew Words, ver. 3. are, God Almighty will bless thee, &c.

Abraham

Abraham and the Land of Canaan to his Pofterity. Jacob did as his Father had directed him, and fet out for Mefopotamia: He was at first a little caft down at the Length of the Way and the Hazard of Success in his Journey, and when at Night he went to fleep, with an Head and Heart full of Cares, the God of Abraham and of Ifaac (f) appeared to him in a Dream, and affured him, that he would preferve and protect him in his Journey, and bring him fafe back into Canaan again, that He would make him happy in a numerous Progeny, and in Time multiply them exceedingly, and give them the Land for an Inheritance. which he had promifed to Abraham; and morcover, that in Him, i. e. in his Seed, all the Families of the Earth fhould be blessed: And thus at this time God exprefly promised to him, that particular Bleffing of Abraham, with the covenanted Mercies that belonged to it, which Ifaac had before given him Reason to hope for. Jacob was furprized at this extraordinary Vifion, and took the Stones upon which he had laid his Head, and reared them up into a Pillar, and poured Oil upon the Top of it, and made a Vow, that if the God that thus appeared to him should blefs and preferve him, protect him in his Journey, and bring him. back in Safety, that then the Lord should be bis God (g), and that he would worship him in the Place where he had now erected the Pillar,

) Gen. xxviii., 13. (g) Ver. 21. See above, p. 130, 131.

and

and that he would dedicate to his Service the Tenth of all the Subftance he should have.

Jacob purfued his Journey and came to Haran in Mefopotamia, and found Laban and his Relations, and was received by them with great Joy and Welcome (b); but as he was not the only Son of his Father, nor the elder Son; not the Heir of his Father's Subftance; fo he did not pretend to expect a Wife, in fo pompous a Way as his Father had formerly (i). Laban had two Daughters, Leah and Rachel: Jacob fancied the Younger, and proposed to his Uncle Laban, that he would stay with him feven Years as his Servant to take care of his Flocks, if he would give him Rachel to Wife: Laban agreed to his Propofal, but at the end of the feven Years deceived him, and married him not to Rachel but to Leab: Jacob expreffing fome Diffatisfaction at it, Laban told him, that he could not break thro' the Custom of their Country, to marry his younger Daughter before his Elder; but that if he defired it, he would give him Rachel too, and he fhould ferve him feven Years more for her, after he had married her: Jacob agreed to this, and when the Week was over for the Celebration of Leak's Nuptials, he married Rachel, and continued with Laban, and kept his Flock feven Years more. At the Expiration of these seven Years, Jacob had a Family of twelve Children; he had fix Sons and a Daugh

(b) Gen. xxix. VOL. II.

(i) Chap. xxiv.

ter