the name of king of Edom, was the chief of the country; he was the general in war; and was, no doubt, selected from the principal families of the Edomites. But the memory of their former independence lived among them; they waited for an opportunity to break their fetters; in the times of Joram (B.C. 890), they accomplished their design; they proclaimed their own king; the campaign which the king of Judah undertook against them, was unsuccessful; and they maintained their independence during a long period. They were, indeed, attacked and defeated by king Amaziah (B.c.838); his successor Uzziah (B.C. 809) gained Elath; but this town was shortly afterwards taken from the Hebrews by the Syrians; the Edomites invaded Judæa, under Ahaz (B.c.741); and enjoyed, no doubt, complete liberty; till, like most of their neighbours, they fell a prey to the marvellous progress of the Chaldean despots. The indelible enmity of the Idumæans against the Hebrews outlived, however, their own subjection, and the destruction of Jerusalem; it raged in unabated violence in the time of the Maccabees, and the period of the Roman invasion; even at that period, they are still described as a turbulent and rude nation, always meditating commotions, rejoicing in convulsions and changes, ever ready to seize arms, and hastening into battles as to feasts. These facts suffice to show the truth of the statement contained in our text, that "the one people was stronger than the other people; and that the elder served the younger"; but they prove also the correctness of the remark, later made with regard to Esau, that "when he had the power, he broke the yoke from his neck" (xxvii. 40): which, no doubt, refers to the

permanent deliverance in the time of Joram.

27-34. The more Esau and Jacob advanced towards manhood, the more striking became the difference of their characters. The former liked a life of excitement, adventure, and danger, as a huntsman, in the wilds and on the mountains; the other inclined to a calm, retired existence, as a harmless shepherd, in nomadic tents. But the text, obviously in opposition to the character of Esau, adds, that Jacob was an "upright man." Though it is thereby not intimated that the bold feats of the chase are in themselves objectionable or immoral; yet the pensive tranquillity favoured by a pastoral life was, in every respect, more congenial to the Hebrew character; it was to this side that its sympathies verged; such pursuits were deemed more favourable for the development of the inner man; and hence, if Jacob embraced them with deliberate choice, they were to the Hebrew historian a certain guarantee of a serious and well-directed mind (see p. 175). However, Isaac was very strongly attached to Esau; he loved him as his firstborn son, on whom the blessing of Abraham would naturally descend, and through whom the great future would be realised. He could scarcely imagine that the preference was intended for the younger brother. Although he himself was a second son, he was the only one born by Abraham's lawful wife; no such difference existed in the case of Esau and Jacob; and as the former seemed to be an obedient and dutiful son, there was the less cause to suspect that he was to be deprived of his due rights. But Rebekah entertained a predilection for the younger

son, whose gentler disposition gained her sympathy, and to whom the prophecy, more faithfully remembered by her, had assigned the superior dignity. But then an incident happened, almost indifferent in itself, but eminently calculated to disclose the nature and character of the two brothers. It is significant by its very insignificance. Jacob had cooked a dish of lentiles, when Esau, just returned from the field, hungry and exhausted, asked for some of the pottage. Jacob, desirous to profit by Esau's greediness, requested him to cede to himself the birthright, as the eldest son. Esau, careless and unreflecting, intent merely upon the gratification of the momentary appetite, ennobled by no lofty prospects into the future, living only for himself, and seeking no glory or immortal fame; not perceiving the holy thread which connects time and eternity; feeling himself a fragment, a mystery, a perishable object; Esau exclaimed: "Behold, I shall soon die, and what profit is this birthright to me?" Jacob, wishing to secure for ever the advantage which might later be reclaimed by his brother, urged him to confirm the cession by an oath. Esau consented; and by the solemn ratification acknowledged, that it was not merely in an unguarded moment of weakness that he gave up his birthright; but because he despised it. Every part of the transaction is important. The picture, though of small compass, is executed with precision, and with touches distinctly and strongly marked. It is clear beyond a doubt, that Esau's character is designedly described not only with disdain and reproof, but even with a certain irony and ridicule; it is, indeed, a humorous and jovial trait, to compare his hairy body to a "fur-cloak";

he returns from the chase breathless, sees a dish of lentiles, and in his voracity demands "to devour of that red, red thing"; the predominance of his animal nature is pourtrayed with a conscious emphasis; insensible to all higher aspirations, he deems it scarcely worth his while to think about the birthright; and when he has satisfied his wild appetite, he is, in conclusion, introduced with an obvious accumulation of verbs certain to produce a jocular effect: "and so he ate, and drank, and rose, and went away, and despised the birthright." It would be idle to contend, that all this merely describes the simplicity, straightforwardness, or naïveté of Esau's mind; qualities as amiable and heartwinning, as Esau's grossness and rusticity are odious and repulsive. These latter traits, clearly intended in the text, fully agree with the national character of the Edomites: a people mostly living in rocky, mountainous tracts; obtaining a scanty subsistence from the gain of their bow; at every moment exposed to risk their lives for nothing more than a meal to satisfy their hunger; during long periods insociable and uncivilized; dreaded but not respected; betraying in their very appearance the savage recklessness of their character; wild, indomitable, and dangerous like the Bedouins, without their generous qualities; despising the ties of relationship, and disregarding the bonds of nature; such a people could not, as regards their origin, be described with more masterly skill than is done in our text.

But, on the other hand, Jacob's character is represented with no less propriety and accuracy. We cannot but acknowledge, that the insidious cunning with which he acquired the birthright, is a fea

ture which the Hebrew writer intended to condemn and to denounce; it was the consciousness of guilt and injustice which induced Jacob to require an oath from Esau; and a remembrance of this fraudulent act urged the latter, when in a more sober disposition, to explain his name as meaning deceiver and defrauder (xxvii. 36). This latter circumstance removes every doubt; the manner in which Jacob here acted, was branded by the author as immoral and despicable. But though the means were base, the feeling which actu ated him, was as praiseworthy and pious, as his aim was pure and sublime. There lived in Jacob a longing to become the propagator of that truth, which Isaac had received from his father; and to spread those blessings which were promised through him to all the nations in the fulness of time. This desire was either engendered or enhanced by the oracle which his mother had received before his birth. So far, he was the worthy descendant of Abraham. But his mind lacked the grand resignation of the latter; he possessed not that abundance of faith which teaches to wait and to be resigned; he intended to work by human prudence into the hands of Providence, forgetting, that, though born the second son, he might, by the mercy of God, be elected to be the first. His thoughts were still impetuous and worldly; and a long and severe school of sorrows was required to educate and to purify him.

Lentiles were and are extensively and carefully grown in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria; those of Egypt were, at a later period, particularly famous; and the manner of cooking them is even immortalised on monuments. They are not only used as a pottage, but in times of scarcity, and more generally by the poor, they are baked into bread, either alone or mixed

with barley. Lentiles and rice, boiled in equal quantities, form still one of the favourite dishes in many parts of the East. When cooked, they are of a yellowish brown colour, approaching to red; some species, growing on a red soil, have this colour naturally: and hence Esau, in his haste, calls the dish simply the red one. The fact, that lentiles were among the cheapest and most common articles of vegetable food, enhances the force and point of our narrative. The privileges which the birthright legally confers; the double portion of the father's property; the higher authority in the family; the greater social influence; all these advantages, in this instance enhanced by spiritual blessings as their most precious accompaniment, could have no value for one who regarded his existence merely as the transitory play of an hour; and who was indifferent to the esteem of others, because he had not risen to understand the dignity of mankind. If we were to expect a historical allusion in this fact also, the probable supposition offers itself, that indeed the Edomites, who were masters of the wide tracts from the Red Sea along the whole mountain of Seir, up to the very frontiers of Palestine, might, with a little exertion, have extended their dominion over the land of Canaan; that, with a limited degree of ambition and self-control, they might have become a respected and mighty nation; but that their thoughtless and ferocious habits kept them in the dreary solitudes, far from the chief scenes of history and civilisation. It is known, that the Mohammedans long kept the, memory of this transaction alive by distributing daily to poor people and to strangers lentiles prepared in a kitchen near the grave at Hebron, where they believed the cession of the birthright took place.