and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. And she said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my master: then she took her veil, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Some time, we are not told how long, after this happy marriage between Isaac and his cousin Rebekah (she was what we now call his 'first cousin once removed '),-Abraham died, 'in a good old age, an old man and full of years. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which he had himself purchased from the children of Heth: there was Abraham buried and Sarah his wife.' He had believed in God unto the end, and his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

ISAAC AND ABIMELECH

27

CHAPTER III

1. WE are not told much about Isaac. He was, it would seem, a good and just man, and God blessed him. In the district where he dwelt there was a famine, and Isaac, seeking food for his cattle, travelled into the land of the Philistines, to Gerar the capital. The king of the Philistines was called Abimelech. And there Isaac had a vision, such as Abraham his father had had before him. And the Word of God came to him and said, 'I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, will I give the land of Canaan, and I will confirm the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father; and I will increase thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give the land unto thy seed; and through thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.' If we ask what were the commandments of God which Abraham kept, the answer is what we already know: Abraham believed in God and did righteousFor these things, faith, righteousness, and love, are the eternal laws of God, which shall never pass away.

ness.

Isaac dwelt for a time at Gerar, and he was very prosperous.

And Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and God blessed him. And the man waxed great and greater until he became very great: and he had flocks and herds and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. And all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of

Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek, that is, Contention; because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and they strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah, that is, Enmity. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth, that is, Room; and he said, For now God hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

From Gerar he went to a place called Beer-sheba. And there he had another vision in the night, and the divine voice said to him, Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.' And Isaac built an altar there, and worshipped God; and he pitched his tent there, and his servants digged a well.

When Isaac prospered greatly, Abimelech the Philistine chieftain thought he would like to make up the quarrel between the herdmen of Gerar and the herdmen of Isaac. It was best to make

friends with so prosperous a man. So

Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, We saw certainly that God was with thee: and we said, Let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now blessed of God. And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. And Isaac called it Shibah, that is, Swearing.

ESAU AND JACOB

29

From this story of Isaac's well, people supposed that the name of the city which was built in later days near the well was called Beer-sheba, that is, the 'well of the oath' or 'well of swearing,' but others connected its name with a similar story told about Abraham.

§ 2. Isaac and Rebekah had two sons. The elder was called Esau, the younger Jacob. The Jews believed that their own ancestor was Jacob the younger son, while the ancestor of their neighbours and kinsmen the Edomites was Esau the elder son.

As the boys grew up, Esau, the Bible tells us, became a clever hunter, a man of the plains, but Jacob was a quiet man, who stayed by the tents.'

Unfortunately their parents did not love them equally, and from this division and favouritism sore troubles arose. Isaac, we are told, 'loved Esau because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.'

The two brothers did not live happily together, and a strange tale is told how Jacob once behaved very cruelly to his brother Esau. In ancient times and in eastern lands the eldest son had special rights and privileges, and even in England to this day these privileges have not quite been abolished. Here, then, is what we are told:

Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, First sell me thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, First swear to me; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

The Biblical narrator is perhaps justified in saying that Esau 'despised his birthright.' He barters away his birthright for food. Could he not have restrained his desire? But, on the other hand, Jacob's conduct is unbrotherly and immoral. His character needed the purification of suffering and sorrow. It is noticeable that Jacob never makes any use of this illegitimately acquired birthright. Nor does Isaac, as we shall see, make any reference to it.

§3. The Bible tells us another most striking and graphic story about Esau and Jacob. In it, again, Jacob plays a mean part, and

yet the fault is not so much his as that of his mother, Rebekah. In ancient times mysterious weight was attached to a blessing and to a curse. More especially was the blessing of a father supposed in some inexplicable way to be likely to bring with it its own fulfilment. A blessing once uttered could not be revoked. These ideas have now quietly passed away. Here follows the story:

And it came to pass that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; and make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a mocker; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son and she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck and she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and