6

she called his name Gad.

12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.

13 And Leah said, 'Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.

15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.

16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet. him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name 9 Issachar.

19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.

20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name 10 Zebulun.

21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.

11

22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24 And she called his name "Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. 25 ¶ And it came to pass, when Rachel

3 Heb. wrestlings of God.

7 Heb. in my happiness. 11 That is, judgment.

4 That is, my wrestling. 8 That is, happy

had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.

26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.

27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.

28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.

29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.

30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is 13 now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?

14

31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:

32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me 15 in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.

34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.

35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.

36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.

37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hasel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 And he set the rods, which he had pilled, before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs, when the flocks came

5 Called, Matth. 4. 13. Nephthalim. 9 That is, an hire.

12 That is, adding. 18 Heb. broken forth. 14 Heb, at my foot.

6 That is, a troop, or company. 10 That is, dwelling. Called, Matth. 4. 13. Zabulon, 15 Heb. to morrow.

Verse 1. "When Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister."-Her envy was no doubt sharpened in this case by the fact that Leah was her sister, and by the knowledge that she was herself the favourite and elected wife. She must have feared that she should lose her ascendency over Jacob by the want of children. The natural domestic evils of polygamy must be rendered more intense when the wives are sisters; and this seems to be stated in the law as a reason why such marriages should not in future be contracted. "Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, beside the other in her lifetime." Jacob was, in a great measure, forced by circumstances into such a connexion; but it does not appear that a marriage with two sisters at once was at this time considered singular or improper, The Arabians, who retained many patriarchal usages which the law forbade to the Jews, continued the practice until the time of Mohammed, who declared such connexions unlawful.

3. "That I may also have children by her."-This is similar to the case of Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham. Such things happen to this day in India and China, often with the full concurrence, and even at the request of the lawful wife when she is herself sterile, or when her children are dead and she has ceased to hope for more.

14. "Mandrakes."-The Hebrew word dudaim, here rendered "mandrakes," has occasioned so much discussion as to evince clearly enough that we know nothing about it. Calmet has an exceedingly long note on this word in his 'Commentaire Littéral sur la Genèse,' in which he states the different opinions which had in his time been entertained as to the plant really intended by the dudaim. Some think that "flowers," or "fine flowers," in general, are intended; while others fix the sense more definitely to "lilies," "violets," or "jessamines." Others reject flowers, and find that figs, mushrooms, citrons, the fruit of the plantain or banana, or a small and peculiarly delicious kind of melon, are intended. A great number adhere to the "mandrake," which has the sanction of the Septuagint, the Chaldee, the Vulgate, and of many learned commentators. Hasselquist, the naturalist, who travelled in the Holy Land to make discoveries in natural history, seems to concur in this opinion. Calmet, however, is disposed to contend, that the citron is intended; and his arguments deserve the attention of those who are interested in the question. The claims of the plantain, and of the delicate species of melon to which we have alluded, have been strongly advocated since

Calmet's time. We have given wood-cuts of the mandrake and the plantain, but without undertaking to offer any decided opinion as to the claims of either.

20. "Now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons."-Many reasons concur to render the possession of sons an object of great anxiety to women in the East. The text expresses one of these reasons. Sons being no less earnestly desired by the husband than by the wife, a woman who has given birth to sons acquires an influence and respectability, which strengthen with the number to which she is mother. To be without sons, is not only a misfortune, but a disgrace to a woman, and her hold on the affections of her husband, and on her standing as his wife, is of a very feeble description. Divorces are easily effected in the East. An Arab has only to enunciate the simple words, ent taleka-" thou art divorced," which, in whatever heat or anger spoken, constitute a legal divorce.

21. "And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah."-The simplicity of this announcement, contrasted with the exuberant thankfulness and exultation which accompany the birth of sons in this and the preceding chapter, is remarkably expressive to persons acquainted with the customs and feelings of the East. When there is prospect of a child, both the parents hope and pray that it may be a son. All their desires centre in male offspring, which is everywhere regarded as the greatest of blessings; and the disappointment is most acute when the child proves to be a female. This is not that the possession of a daughter is in itself regarded as an evil, but because her birth disappoints the sanguine hopes which had been entertained of the greater blessing. Time enables the little creature to win her way to the hearts of her parents. But it is only time that can reconcile them to their disappointment; and in the first instance the household in which a female child has been born, has the appearance of having been visited by some calamitous dispensation. Her birth is quite unmarked by the rejoicings and congratulations which greet the entrance of a son into the world, and every one is reluctant to announce the untoward event to the father; whereas, when the infant is a boy, the only question is who shall be foremost to bear to him the joyful tidings.

31. "If thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock," &c., to v. 36.-There is a difficulty in this passage which will not escape the notice of the careful reader. The terms of the agreement were, that in consideration for Jacob's services, Laban should allow to him all the sheep and goats of a certain description which should thereafter be born. The agreement refers to no present distribution of the flocks; yet we find Laban immediately selecting the animals of the description defined by Jacob, and sending them three days' journey distant from the others, under the charge of his sons. Perhaps the first impression of the reader would be, that Laban, for the greater security, placed with his sons the animals of the class (parti-coloured) defined by Jacob, leaving with him those of one colour, and that from time to time an exchange was effected, the parti-coloured in the one coloured flock of Laban, fed by Jacob, going to the parti-coloured flock of Jacob, fed by Laban's sons; and the one coloured animals produced in Jacob's particoloured flock, in charge of Laban's sons, being transferred to the flock in charge of Jacob. But this hypothesis assumes that Laban made over to Jacob in the first instance all the parti-coloured animals in his flocks, whereas the agreement only states a prospective advantage. We have therefore no doubt that the solution offered by Dr. Adam Clarke is the most reasonable. He supposes that the separation was a stratagem of Laban, for the purpose of diminishing Jacob's chances as much as possible, by leaving him with a flock that did not contain a single animal of the sort to which he was to be entitled, and from which it might therefore be expected that the smallest possible proportion of parti-coloured animals would proceed. The counter stratagem of Jacob, and its result, appear in the sequel of the chapter.

37. "Poplar."-As the Hebrew word Libneh denotes whiteness, and the Septuagint renders it by λsuxn, we have no hesitation in thinking that the populus alba, or "white poplar," is here meant. The asuxn, or "white poplar," is mentioned by Theophrastus as growing in Egypt and Syria; and it occurs very frequently in Persia.

"Hasel."- Luz, Heb. (Corylus Avellana.) From the suffrage of the ancient versions, we collect that Luz is rightly translated "hasel," though the hasel was called "Nux Pontica," as having been brought to Italy from Pontus. It was cultivated near Avellino, a city not far from Naples, whence we have the specific name Avellana. "Chesnut."-Armon, Heb. There seems to be no doubt that the Plane-tree is the Armon of Scripture, since the Arabic, Greek, Syrian, and Vulgate versions all agree in so considering it. The Platanus orientalis was a very favourite tree among the ancients, as the classical reader well knows. The term Platanus, λaravos, is from λarus, "broad," and applies to the diffusive shade of this delightful tree, which was in fact the quality that recommended it to the attachment of Eastern nations. The Hebrew appellation Armon comes from a root which signifies to be stripped, and agrees very well with the plane, where the bark spontaneously peels off, and leaves the trunk apparently bare. The chesnut has a wide spreading top, but its bark, though curiously cleft into oblong cells, does not peel off, as in the plane and birch. The Arabic and Syriac terms are essentially the same: dulba, Syr., and dulb, Arab.

LABAN SEARCHING FOR HIS IDOLS.-DE LA HIRE.
CHAPTER XXXI.

1 Jacob upon displeasure departeth secretly. 19 Ra-
chel stealeth her father's images. 22 Laban pur-
sueth after him, 26 and complaineth of the wrong.
34 Rachel's policy to hide the images. 36 Jacob's
complaint of Laban. 43 The covenant of Laban
and Jacob at Galeed.

AND he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory.

2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him' as before.

3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,

5 And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.

6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.

9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

Heb. the heart of Laban 8 Heb. felt.