ance. Nothing farther is recorded of this illustrious patriarch, who justly acquired the name of "father of the faithful," except that he lived to the venerable age of an hundred and seventy-five years, and that he was buried, by Isaac and Ishmael, in the cave of Machpelah. B. C. 1838. Rebecca, after continuing barren for the space of nineteen years (during which time her hus hand constantly prayed to God on her behalf,) became pregnant, and was delivered of two sons, whom she named Esau and Jacob. Esau became a famous huntsman, and consequently the darling of his father, who was extremely fond of venison; but Jacob was the favorite of Rebecca, who knew that he should eventually inherit the privileges of paternal blessing and primogeniture, God: having declared, before the birth of these twins, that the ulder should serve the younger. When the two brothers were about twenty years old a circumstance occurred which it would be unpardonable to omit, and which seems to imply that Rebecca had entrusted her younger son with the secret of God's de termination respecting his future fortune. Esau, having neturned faint and weary from the toils of the chace, was particularly struck with the appearance of some red pottage which had been sodden by his brother, and earnestly requested that it might be given him. Hereupon Jacob proposed that his brother should swear away his birth-right, and Esau, observing that the right of primogeniture was of little importance to a man at the point of death, rashly consented; in consequence of which he was, afterward, called Edom. B. C. Some time after this transaction, Isaac was 1805. compelled, by a grievous famine, to seek another habitation, and accordingly determined to go into Egypt; but God diverted him from that resolution, and commanded him to repair to Gerar, where he should enjoy the peculiar protection of Heaven. The patriarch readily obeyed this injunction, and removed into the dominions of Abimelech, in which situation Rebecca passed for his sister, in order to shield him from any danger that might have resulted from her beauty. This artifice, however, appeared unnecessary, for, whether the Philistines recollected the judgment with which they had been formerly threatened on account of Sarah, or whether the morals of the people were at this time uncorrupted, it is certain that Rebecca was unmolested, and Isaac had no reason to complain on her account. Itappears, however, that the king himself had a shrewd suspicion they were man and wife; for, looking, one day, out of his window, he saw Isaac caressing Rebecca in such a manner, as convinced him that they were related by much closer ties than those of consanguinity. Hereupon he sent for the patriarch, and asked him how he could act with such dissimulation as to affirm that the woman who was really his wife was no other than his sister? Isaac pleaded his father's excuse, "Lest I die for her:" but Abimelech replied, it was by no means Kindly done, for that some of his subjects might ignorantly have taken liberties with her, and by that means involved the whole nation in a dangerous sin. In order to prevent such a circumstance for the future, a royal proclamation was issued out, whereby the Philistines were strictly forbidden to molest Rebecca or her husband, upon pain of death. Isaac appears to have lived peaceably in Gerar for some time after this occurrence; but the rapid increase of his wealth gave such umbrage to the Philistines, that they began to regard him with an eye of jealousy, and gave him much disturbance by filling up the wells which his servants had dug, and by many other ill offices. These vexatious circumstances compelled him to remove from place to place, till Abimelech, recollecting the covenant that had been solemnly ratified between his father and Abraham, and plainly perceiving that Isaac's concerns were under the immediate protection of God, deemed it adviseable to terminate all disputes. by a new league, or by a revival of the old covenant of friendship. Accordingly the king, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, went to the habitation of the pa triarch, where they acknowledged that they saw the hand of Providence in his augmenting prosperity, and therefore requested him to take an oath of friendship and alliance to them, desiring no other terms, than that he and his descendants should refrain from molesting the Philistines, and act with the same kindness toward them, as both himself and his father had experienced. This proposal was readily accepted by the patriarch, who entertained his visitors with the utmost hospitality, and after a mutual ratification of the covenant, sent them away in peace. Immediately after their departure, some of Isaac's servants brought him the pleasing intelligence that they had found water, upon which account he called the place Beer-sheba. The tranquillity which resulted from this new alliance between Isaac and Abimelech, was soon disturbed by Esau's marrying two Hittites, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon. The pa-, triarch, however, still regarded this son with peculiar affection, and determined to make him the heir of all his substance. Accordingly, judging from the ad vanced state of his age, the dimness of his sight, and other circumstances, that his dissolution was approaching, he determined to bestow his benediction upon Esau before he died. With this intent he ordered him to go in quest of some venison, and to dress it to his palate, intimating that he designed to bless him on that day. "Make me savoury meat," said he,“ such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, and that my bless thee before I die." soul may B. C. Esau readily obeyed his father's command; 1759. but whilst he was absent, Rebecca, who had overheard the whole conversation, dressed her son Jacob in Esau's clothes; put the skin of a kid about his hands and neck, the better to resemble her first-born who was extremely hairy; and preparing a dish of savoury meat, sent him into his father, notwithstanding his great reluctance, and his dread of incurring a curse rather than a blessing. Isaac appears to have been much surprised. at the expedition with which his commands were obeyed, and certainly entertained some doubts respecting the identity of his son's person, for he desired him to come near that he might feel him, and earnestly demanded. "Art thou my very son Esau?" However he was at length satisfied, and pronounced the irrevocable blessing, saying, "The smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. Therefore God give thee of the dew of Heaven, and the fatness of the earth, with plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be thou lord over thy bre thren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." Whilst Rebecca and her son were congratulating themselves upon the success of their plan, Esau returned from the chace, and invited his father to eat of the venison which he had prepared. Isaac, in an agony of grief, exclaimed, that he had already eaten of such a repast, and bestowed his blessing upon Jacob, who had contrived to deceive him. Hereupon a mournful sceneensued between the venerable patriarch and his firstborn, the former trembling exceedingly, and the other crying with a bitter cry, "Bless me, even me also,. O my father!" Isaac, however, strenuously insisted that his benediction should not be recalled. "I have blessed him," said he, “ yea and he shall be blessed." But in order to assuage the immoderate grief of Esau, who upbraided his brother with thus deceitfully extorting first his birth-right, and now his blessing from him, he blessed him also in these words." Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of Heaven from above. By thy sword and thy bow shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass, that when thou shalt have the dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." These declarations were so far from satisfying Esau, that he determined to revengehimself upon Jacob as soon as his father should die. However he gradually laid aside his anger, and finding that his parents had an insurmountable aversion to the daughters of Canaan, he espoused Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, and removed with his family to Mount Seir. Meanwhile Rebecca, dreading the accomplishment of Esau's threat, desired her youngest son to go to Padan-Aram, in order to take a wife from the family of her brother Laban; Isaac also laid an injunction upon |