company; and, seeing his brother coming with a large retinue of attendants, he passed over before the whole of his own people, and bowed himself seven times,-stopping at intervals, that is, and bowing each time,-until at length he was in the immediate presence of his brother. And now the reconciliation is effected; now the victory is won. Esau, who had said, "I will slay my brother Jacob," runs to meet him, and embraces him, and falls upon his neck, and they both weep together. How pleasant is it to see persons who have been at enmity, and especially members of the same family, throwing their enmity aside, and becoming friends! The jars of brothers "Are like a stone thrown into a river, The breach scarce heard; but view the beaten current, And you shall see a thousand angry rings Rise in his face, still swelling and still growing." Let them, then, cease at once. Do not, if possible, live a day in a state of anger and hostility with any one, but especially with a brother, whom you should always love. Men meet with far too many enemies in the world around them to make themselves enemies among their immediate kindred. And yet how frequent are feuds in families! Esau, thus reconciled to his brother, was introduced to his wives and children; and, on asking what the droves of cattle meant which Jacob had sent on before him, was informed that they were a present, to obtain favour in his sight. He refused, however, at first, to take them, alleging that he had enough; but Jacob urged him, and he accepted them. It would seem that Esau wished his brother to accompany him to Mount Seir, and that Jacob thought of doing so; but whilst Esau returned thither, Jacob went first to Succoth, a spot near the Jordan, according to the maps, and, after some time, "to Shalem, a city of Shechem," or, as the words should be rendered, "in safety to the city Shechem," in the land of Canaan, at the foot of Mount Gerizim, afterwards so celebrated in Jewish history. (Gen. xxxiii.) Subsequently he went to Hebron, where he found his father Isaac still alive; and on Isaac's death, at the age of a hundred and eighty years, Jacob and his brother Esau buried him. (Gen. xxxv. 27-29.) Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel; Esau, the progenitor of a people called the Edomites. The names of Esau's sons and grandsons (many of whom were called "dukes" or "emirs,”—that is, heads of tribes) are given in Gen. xxxvi.; and they became a great and wealthy people. Thus in the line of Esau, as well as in that of Jacob, the promise made to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude, was literally fulfilled. The Edomites have now no separate existence, but have become mingled with the Arab tribes, in whose territory some of the names of their princes have been found. London: R. Needham, Printer, Paternoster-Row. |