wealthy Hebrews from the rich pastures of Palestine, Abimelech, the king of the country, said openly to Isaac, “Depart from amongst us, for thou art mightier than we." Thus had the Lord fulfilled his promise to his servant Abraham, to abide with his seed, and make them a terror to their enemies.

Departing from Gerar, Isaac pitched his tents in Beersheba, where Abimelech, accompanied by his friend Ahuzzath, a Canaanitish chieftain, and Phicol, the chief captain of his army, went to him and demanded that, forasmuch as he was the blessed of the Lord, he should make a covenant with them to do them no hurt. And they and Isaac feasted together, and sware to maintain peace one towards another, and departed each to his several place.

Shortly after this, Esau, being forty years old, and having become associated by his wandering habits with the heathen tribes dwelling in Canaan, took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elor, both of whom were Hittites; connexions which were a grief of mind both to Isaac and Rebekah.

And it came to pass that, when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called to him his eldest son Esau, and 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." The love of Isaac for Esau appears to have rendered him forgetful of that portion of the Almighty's promise, in which it had been said-" The elder of thy sons shall serve the younger;" or, feeling doubtful of the interpretation of the prophecy, the partial father wished to avert its literal fulfilment, and to settle his patriarchal succession on his first-born, by a testamentary benediction.

Rebekah, however, had overheard the words of her husband, and knowing their import, she instantly conceived a project for depriving Esau of his intended blessing, in favour of her. more beloved son, Jacob. After seeing her eldest child depart on his errand, therefore, she summoned the younger to her presence, and having acquainted him with the desire of Isaac, thus disclosed to him a plot to delude his father. Go now to the flock," she said, " and fetch thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them into savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and bless thee before his death."

Jacob, though unscrupulous as to assisting in the proposed deception, hesitated at first, from a doubt of its success. Behold," he said, "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 deceiver, and thus bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing."

His mother, however, silenced his apprehensions. Upon me," she replied, "be thy curse, my son; obey thou my voice, and bring me what I have required."

So Jacob brought the kids to Rebekah, who, having cooked them in the way desired by Isaac, took raiment belonging to Esau, and clothed therein her favourite son; at the same time, covering his hands and his neck with the skins of the slaughtered goats. Then Jacob, thus disguised, carried to his father's tent the savoury meat, and tendered it for his acceptance. It is probable that his extreme age had impaired some of the other faculties of Isaac besides his sight and strength; for when he heard the voice of Jacob, he does not appear to have distinctly recognised it, but enquired to which of his sons he was speaking.

How humiliated must Jacob have felt, when he found it necessary to support his imposture by a direct falsehoodand that to his father. "I am Esau, thy first-born," he said; "I have done according as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me."

Isaac, dubious if his memory or his ears deceived him, en

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