gather) about fifteen years of age, in the language of the sacred text, "went out to see the daughters of the

land," or, as Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us, to take part in a feast of the Shechemites. A more

terrible warning than that afforded by the results of her thoughtless and blameworthy participation in

irreligious and even heathen festivities could scarcely be given. It led to the ruin of Dinah herself, then to a

proposal of an alliance between the Hivites and Israel, to which Israel could not, of course, have agreed; and

finally to vile deceit on the part of Simeon and Levi, for the purpose of exacting bloody revenge, by which

the whole male population of Shechem were literally exterminated. How deeply the soul o f Jacob recoiled

from this piece of Eastern cruelty, appears from the fact, that even on his deathbed, many years afterwards,

he reverted to it in these words: -

But one, though undesigned, consequence of the crime proved a further blessing to Jacob. It was quite clear

that he and his family must remove from the scene of Simeon's and Levi's treachery and cruelty. Then it was

that God directed Jacob to return to Beth-el, and fulfill the promise which he had there made on fleeing from

the face of Esau his brother. About ten years must have elapsed since the return of Jacob from

Mesopotamia, and yet he had not paid his vows unto the Lord! From what follows, we infer that, in all

probability, the reason of this delay had been that the family of Jacob had not been purged from idolatry,

and that hitherto Jacob had been too weak to remove from his household what must have rendered his

appearance at Beth-el morally impossible. But now we read, that "he said unto his household, and to all that

were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments"

(this as a symbol of purification): "and let us arise, and go up to Bethel." And all the teraphim and idolatrous

"charms" were buried deep down below a terebinth-tree "which was by Shechem." A touching incident is

recorded immediately on their arrival at Beth-el. "Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried

beneath Beth-el, under an oak, and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth (the oak of weeping)." Thus

Deborah's long and faithful service in the household of Isaac, and the family -mourning over the old, tried

family friend, are deemed worthy of perpetual memorial in the Book of God! But from the circumstance that

Deborah died in the house of Jacob, we infer not only that her mistress Rebekah was dead, but that there

must have been some in tercourse between Isaac and Jacob since his return to Canaan. Most probably Jacob

had visited his aged parent, though Scripture does not mention it, because it in no way affects the history of

the covenant. At Bethel God again appeared to Jacob; and while He once more bestowed on him the name

of Israel and the covenant-promises previously given, Jacob also paid his vow unto the Lord, and on his

part likewise renewed the designation of the place as Beth-el.

From Bethel they continued their journey towards M amre, the place of Isaac's residence. On the way, some

distance from Ephrath, "the fruitful," which in later times was called Bethlehem, "the house of bread,"

(Micah 5:2) Rachel died in giving birth to Jacob's twelfth son. His mother wished to call her child Ben-oni,

"the son of my sorrow;" but his father named him Benjamin, which has been variously interpreted as

meaning "son of the right hand," "son of days, i.e. of old age," and "son of happiness," because he

completed the number of twelve sons. From Jeremiah 31:15, we gather that Rachel actually died in Ramah.

"Jacob set a pillar upon her grave." As the oak, or rather the terebinth, of Deborah was still known at the

time of the Judges, when Deborah's greater namesake dwelt under its shadow, "between Ramah and Bethel

in Mount Ephraim," (Judges 4:5) so the pillar which marked Rachel's grave was a landmark at the time of

Samuel. (1 Samuel 10:2, 3) Another crime yet stained the family of Jacob at Migdal Eder, "the watchtower of

the flock," in consequence of which Reuben was deprived of the privileges of the firstborn.(Genesis 49:4) At

last Jacob came to his journey's end, "unto Isaac his father, unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is

Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned." Here Scripture pauses to record, by way of anticipation, the

death of Isaac, at the age of one hundred and eighty years, although that event took place twelve years after

Jacob's arrival at Hebron; and, indeed, Isaac had lived to share his son's sorrow, when Joseph was sold into

Egypt, having only died ten years before Jacob and his sons settled in Egypt.52 But the course of sacred

history has turned from Isaac, and, in fact, Jacob himself is now but a secondary actor in its events. The