JACOB'S MEETING WITH ESAU.

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brother; keep what is thine for thyself." And Jacob said: "Do not so, I beseech thee; but if I have found favour in thine eyes, receive a little present at my hands; for I have seen thy face as if I should have seen the countenance of God. Be gracious to me, and take the blessing which I have brought thee, which God hath given me, who giveth all things." He took it at last, at his brother's earnest pressing, and said: "Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee on thy journey." And Jacob said: "My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender children, and sheep and kine with young, which if I should cause to be overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die. May it please my lord to go on before his servant, and I will follow softly after him, as I shall see my children able, till I come to my lord in Seir." And Esau answered: "I beseech thee let some of the people, at least, who are with me stay to accompany thee in the way." And he said: "There is no necessity; I want nothing else but only to find favour, my lord, in thy sight." So Esau returned that day the way that he came to Seir. And Jacob came to Succoth, and from thence he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichimites, and dwelt near the town; and he bought part of the field where he pitched his tents, of Hemor, the father of Sichem, for a hundred lambs; and raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel.

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§ 19. Jacob destroys all the Idols brought from Mesopotamia. Death of Rachel, and of Isaac his father.

Jacob had been some time in the land of Canaan, and his sons had greatly disturbed the peace of their father, by taking a cruel vengeance upon Sichem and

JACOB BURIES THE IDOLS BROUGHT AWAY FROM MESOPOTAMIA.

all the inhabitants of the town, for an insult offered to Dinah their sister, when God appeared to Jacob, and said: "Arise, and go up to Bethel, and dwell there,

DEATH OF RACHEL AND ISAAC.

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and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau thy brother."

And Jacob having called together all his household, said: "Cast away the strange gods that are among you, be cleansed, and change your garments. Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may build there an altar to God, who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompanied me in my journey." So they gave him all the strange gods, and the ear-rings which were in their ears, and he destroyed them, and buried them under the turpentine-tree which is behind the city of Sichem. And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, that they durst not pursue after them as they went away. And Jacob came to Bethel, and all the people with him; and there he built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of the place Bethel (the house of God); for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother. And God appeared again to Jacob, and blessed him, saying: "Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. God Almighty; increase and be multiplied. Nations and people shall be born from thee, and kings shall be thy children. And the land which I gave to Abraham, I will give to thee and to thy seed after thee.'

I am

Jacob departed from Bethel, and journeyed towards Ephrata. And on the journey, Benjamin, his youngest son, was born; and Rachel, his mother, died in childbirth. Jacob buried her by the wayside, and erected a pillar over her burial-place, which is the pillar of Rachel's monument to this day.

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Jacob went on his way, and came to his father Isaac, who was still alive in Hebron, near Mambre, where Abraham had sojourned. Isaac was now a hundred and eighty years old; and being worn out with age, he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days; and his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him. (B.c. 1962.)

ARAB MONUMENT STANDING OVER THE TOMB OF RACHEL, NEAR BETHLEHEM.

JOSEPH'S DREAMS.

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THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH.

§ 20. Joseph tells his Dreams to his Brethren. (B.C. 1915.) Jacob was now again living in the land of Canaan, in which his father Isaac had lived; and he had twelve sons, among whom Joseph was his father's favourite. Joseph was just sixteen years old, and was engaged with the rest of his brothers in looking after his father's flocks. He was one day witness of some extremely bad and wicked conduct on the part of his brethren, at which he was deeply grieved; and on his return home he told all that he had seen to his father. father had made for him a coat of divers colours; and his brethren, seeing that his father loved him more than all his other sons, began from this time to hate him, and could never speak a peaceable word to him.

His

About this time Joseph had a remarkable dream, which he told to his brothers, and which caused them to hate him still more. "Hear my dream,” said he to them, "which I have dreamed. I thought we were binding sheaves in the field; and my sheaf arose, as it were, and stood; and your sheaves standing about bowed down before my sheaf." His brethren answered: "Shalt thou be our king, or shall we be subject to thy dominion?" And they hated him still more on account of his dream.

Soon after this Joseph dreamed another dream,