and devices. "He that believeth shall not make haste;" nor need he, for God will do it all for him.

In pursuance of her purpose, Rebekah proposed to Jacob to take advantage of his father's dim sight, and to

personate Esau. He was to put on his brother's dress, which bore the smell of the aromatic herbs and bushes

among which he was wont to hunt, and to cover his smooth skin with a kind of fur; while Rebekah would

prepare a dish which his father would not be able to distinguish from the venison which Esau was to make

ready for him. It is remarkable, that although Jacob at first objected, his scruples were caused rather by fear

of detection than from a sense of the wrong proposed. But Rebekah quieted his misgivings, - possibly

trusting, that since she was doing, as she thought, the will of God, she could not but succeed. In point of

fact, Jacob found his part more difficult than he could have expected. Deceit, equivocation, and lying,

repeated again and again, were required to allay the growing suspicions of the old man. At last Jacob

succeeded - with what shame and remorse we can readily imagine - in diverting his father's doubts; and

Isaac bestowed upon him "the blessing," and with it the birthright. But it deserves special notice, that while

this blessing assigned to him both the land of Canaan and lordship over his brethren, there is in it but the

faintest allusion to the great promise to Abraham. The only words which can be supposed to refer to it are

these: "Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." (Genesis 27:29) But

this is manifestly very different from the blessing of Abraham, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations

of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 22:18)

It is clear that Isaac imagined he had blessed Esau, and that he did not dare confer upon him the spiritual

privileges attached to the birthright. So, after all, Jacob and Rebekah did not attain that which they had

sought! Jacob had scarcely left the presence of his father, when Esau entered with the venison he had

prepared. If Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob had been each wrong in their share in the transaction, Esau deserves

at least equal blame. Not to speak of his previous knowledge of the will of God on this point, he disguised

from his brother Jacob that he was about to obtain from his father's favor that which he had actually sold to

Jacob! Surely, there was here quite as great dishonesty, cunning, and untruthfulness as on the part of

Jacob. When Isaac now discovered the deceit which had been practiced upon him, he "trembled very

exceedingly," but he refused to recall the blessing he had pronounced: "I have blessed him - yea, and he

shall be blessed." Now, for the first time, the mist which in this matter had so long hung about Isaac's

spiritual vision, seems dispelled. He sees the finger of God, who had averted the danger which his own

weakness had caused. Thus, while all parties in the transaction had been in error and sin, God brought

about His own purpose, and Isaac recognized this fact. Now, for the first time also, Esau obtained a glimpse

of what he had really lost. We read, that "afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was

rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."(Hebrews 12:17)

At his earnest entreaty for some kind of blessing, Isaac pronounced what in reality was a prophecy of the

future of Edom. Translating it literally, it reads: "Behold, thy dwelling shall be without fatness of the earth,

And without the dew of heaven from above."

This describes the general aspect of the sterile mountains of Edom; after which the patriarch continues, by

sketching the future history of the Edomites: "But by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother;

Yet it shall come to pass that, as thou shakest it, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck."

The last sentence, it has been well remarked, refers to the varying success of the future struggles between

Israel and Edom, and introduces into the blessing of Jacob an element of judgment. And when we compare

the words of Isaac with the history of Israel and Edom, down to the time when Herod, the Idumean,

possessed himself of the throne of David, we see how correctly the whole has been summed up in the

Epistle to the Hebrews (11:20): "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come."

For, that Isaac was now acting in faith, and that he discerned how, without knowing it, he had blessed, not

according to his own inclination, but according to the will and purpose of God, appears from the subsequent

history. It seems that Esau, full of hatred and envy, resolved to rid himself of his rival by murdering his

brother, only deferring the execution of his purpose till after the death of his father, which he also believed