THE DEATH OF JACOB.

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Joseph was displeased that his father put his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the younger, and tried to lift it from Ephraim's head to the head of Manasses. But Jacob refused, saying: "I know, my son, I know; Manasses shall become a great people, but his younger brother shall be greater than he." And he blessed them again, saying: "In thee shall Israel be blessed; and it shall be a proverb, God do to thee as to Ephraim and Manasses" and he set Ephraim before Manasses.

Jacob now sent for all his sons to come into his presence; and he blessed each in his turn, foretelling what was to happen to their descendants. To Juda he gave the special and peculiar promise of being the forefather of the Messias. "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from before him, till HE come THAT IS TO BE SENT; and HE shall be the expectation of the nations." (See Frontispiece.)

Again he said to all his sons: "I am going to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the double cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hethite, over against Mambre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought, together with the field, of Ephron the Hethite, for a possession to bury in. There they buried him, and Sara his wife; there was Isaac buried, with Rebecca his wife; there doth Lia also lie buried." And when he had ended giving his last instructions to his sons, he gathered his feet into the bed, and expired. (B.c. 1875.)

§ 35. The Mourning for Jacob; his Burial; and the Death
of Joseph.

When Joseph saw that his father was dead, he fell upon his face, weeping and kissing him; and he commanded the physicians to embalm his father. And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty days, for this was the time required for embalming; and the people of Egypt mourned for him seventy days. And when the time of the mourning was expired, Joseph spoke to the family of Pharao, and said: "If I have found favour in your sight, speak in the ears of Pharao; for my father made me swear to him, saying, Behold, I die; thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre, which I have digged for myself in the land of Canaan. So I will go up and bury my father, and return." Pharao said to him: "Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear."

So Joseph prepared to set out; and there went up with him the principal nobles of the court of Pharao, and the elders of the land of Egypt. And all the house of Joseph, together with his brethren, went up, leaving their children and cattle behind. He had in his train, also, a great multitude of chariots and horsemen; and there was a great company. And when they were come to the threshing-floor of Atael, which is situate beyond the Jordan, they celebrated the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, and spent full seven days there; so that the people of

THE DEATH OF JOSEPH.

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Canaan, when they saw this, said, "This is a great mourning to the Egyptians;" and from that day the place was called the Mourning of Egypt. And the sons of Jacob did as their father commanded them, and buried him in the cave of Mambre; and Joseph and all his company returned home.

When the rest of his brethren saw that their father was dead, they began to be afraid of Joseph, and said to one another: "Lest perhaps he remember the wrong he suffered, and requite us all the evil we did to him." And they sent a message to him, saying: "Thy father, before he died, commanded us to say to thee from him, 'I beseech thee, forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin and malice they practised against thee.' We also pray thee to forgive the servants of the God of thy father this wickedness." And when Joseph heard this, he wept. His brethren came before him, and fell on their faces to the ground, saying, "We are thy servants." But Joseph comforted them, and spoke mildly to them, saying: "Fear not; can we resist the will of God? You thought evil against me; but God has turned it into good, that He might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people. Fear not; I will feed you and children."

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The time was now come for Joseph to die; he had lived to the age of one hundred and ten years, and had seen the children of Ephraim to the third generation. At his death he called his brethren, and said: "God will visit you after my death, and will make

you go up out of this land to the land which He swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And he made his brethren swear to him, saying: "When God shall visit you, carry my bones with you out of this place." After this, he died, and was embalmed, and laid in a stone coffin in Egypt. (B.C. 1821.)

JOB THE IDUMEAN.

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THE HISTORY OF JOB.

§ 36. The history of Job the Idumean.

ALTHOUGH God had revealed Himself in an especial manner to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and had given to them the especial promise, that in their seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, His holy name. was still known and feared by many holy persons among the other nations of the world, who had not fallen away to the worship of idols and false gods.

Of this there is a remarkable proof in the life and history of Job the Idumean. Between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses, there lived in Hus, in the land of Edom, a man named Job, who was simple and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil. He was exceeding rich in sheep, and camels, and oxen, and was looked upon as a prince among all the people of the East. He had sons and daughters, who feasted with each other, each in their turn; and Job their father, when the days of their feasting were over, would rise up early in the morning and offer holocausts for every one of them, for he said: "Lest perhaps my sons have sinned, and have cursed God in their hearts."

But this prosperity was not to last; evil days were to come, and the holy Job was to be tried. On a certain day, when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, Satan was among them, and the Lord said to

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