Punishment soon ensued to all the parties to this in- iquitous transaction (see Jarvis, Church of the Redeemed, p. 47). Fear seized the guilty Jacob, who is sent by his father, at the suggestion of Rebekah, to the original seat of the family, in order that he might find a wife among his cousins, the daughters of his mother's brother, Laban the Syrian (Gen. xxviii). Before he is dismissed, Jacob again receives his father's blessing, the object obviously being to keep alive in the young man's mind the great promise given to Abraham, and thus to transmit that influence which, under the aid of divine Providence, was to end in placing the family in possession of the land of Palestine, and, in so doing, to make it " a multitude of people." The language, however, employed by the aged father suggests the idea that the religious light which had been kindled in the mind of Abraham had lost some- what of its fulness, if not of its clearness also, since " the blessing of Abraham," which had originally embraced all nations, is now restricted to the descendants of this one patriarchal family. And so it appears, from the language which Jacob employs (Gen. xxviii, 16) in re- lation to the dream that he had when he tarried all night upon a certain plain on his journey eastward, that his idea of the Deity was little more than that of a local god : " Surely the Lord is in tkb place, and / knew it fiot." Nor does the language which he immediately after employs show that his ideas of the relations be- tween God and man were of an exalted and refined na- ture : '■ If God will be with me, and will keep me in the •way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and rai- ment to put on, so that I come again to my fathers house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God." The vision, therefore, with which Jacob was favored was not without occasion, nor could the terms in which he was addressed by the Lord fail to enlarge and correct his conceptions, and make his religion at once more com- prehensive and more influential. (Jacob's vision at Bethel is considered by Miegius in a treatise [De Scald JacobiJi in the Thesaurus novus Theolor/ico-Philolor/icus, i, 195. See also Augustine, Serm. cxxii ; Kurz, History of the Old Covenant, i, 309.)
2. Jacob, on coming into the land of the people of the East, accidentally met with Rachel, Laban's daughter, to whom, with true Eastern simplicity and politeness, he showed such courtesy as the duties of pastoral life sug- gest and admit (Gen. xxix). Here his gentle and af- fectionate nature displays itself under the infiuence of the bonds of kindred and the fair form of the youthful maiden. '-Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept." It must be borne in miud, however, that Jacob himself had now reached the mature age of sev- enty-seven years, as ap]iears from a comparison of Jo- seph's age (Gen. xxx, 25 ; xli, 46 ; xlv, 2) with Jacob's (Gen. xlvii, 9 ; xxxi, 41). After lie had been with his imcle the space of a month, Laban inquires of him what reward he expects for his ser\-ices. He asks for the "beautiful and well-favored Rachel." His request is granted on condition of a seven years' service — a long period, truly, but to Jacob '• they seemed but a few days for the love he had to her." When the time was ex- pired, the crafty Laban availed himself of the customs
of the country in order to substitute his elder and " ten- der-eyed" daughter, Leah. In the morning Jacob found how he had been beguiled ; but Laban excused himself, saying, " It must not be done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born." Another seven years' service gains for Jacob the beloved Rachel. Leah, however, has the compensatory privilege of being the mother of the first-born, Reuben ; three other sons suc- cessively ft)llow, namely, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, sons of Leah. This fruitfulness was a painful subject of re- flection to the barren Rachel, who employed 1 aiguage on this occasion that called forth a reply from her hus- band which shows that, mild as was the character of Ja- cob, it was by no means wanting in force and energy (Gen. xxx, 2). An arrangement, ho^vever, took place, by which Rachel had chililren by means of her maid, Bilhah, of whom Dan and Naphtali were born. Two other sons, Gad and Asher, were born to Jacob of Leah's maid, Zilpah. Leah herself bare two more sons, name- ly, Issachar and Zebulun ; she also bare a daughter, Di- nah. At length Rachel herself bare a son, and she call- ed his name Joseph. As this part of the sacred history has been made the subject of cavil on the alleged ground of anachronism (see Hengstenberg, A uth. des Pentaf. ii, 851), it may be well to present here a table showing the chronological possibility of the birth of these children within the vears allotted in the narrative (Gen. xxix, 32 ; xxx, 24).
^<'- 1 Z.ai.
Bv Rachel.
BilLh.
Bu ZiU'uiTt.
B.C.
1 i Keuben
Summer, 1919
Simeou
Spring, 1918