Imatges de pàgina
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289 his habitation on mount Seir; but Jacob thought fit to Jacob topturn towards Succoth, where he built him an houfe, and ped fome afterwards removed to Salem, a city belonging to the Se- time at chemites, where he bought fome ground of the children Succoth. of Hamor, and fettled there 8 (F), and built an altar to Buys a the LORD, which he called El Elobe Ifrael, or the mighty piece of GOD of Ifrael. This was in all likelihood the fame ground place where Abraham had heretofore built one, foon after near Shehis first coming into the land of Canaani. And here chem. alfo was probably Jacob's well near mount Gerizim, where CHRIST talked with the woman of Samariak; for that mountain stood in the country of the Shechemites1.

HERE Jacob might have lived long in peace and tran- Year of quillity, being univerfally beloved and refpected, had not the flood the treacherous and inhuman maffacre of the inhabitants 616. by his two fons Simeon and Levi m obliged him to with- Bef. Chr. draw from the place nearer to Mamre, where his father 1732. till lived. Jacob reproved them for their barbarity;

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arguments, they had wholly perfuaded him to acquiefce in the divine will, and to fet afide all animofity against Jacob.

(F) We have here followed the English verfion, though the original, we think, might be more properly rendered, he arrived fafe and found, or peaceably, at the city of Shechem; for the word Salem, or rather Shalem, bears that fignification; whereas we find no remains of any place near Shechem, that is called by the name of Salem. Some have thought it to be that Salem of which Melchizedek was king (186), the ruins of whofe palace were ftill to be feen in St. Jerom's time; which thewed

iv. 5.

1 Gen. xii, 7. VILLET. & al m Jos.

it, he fays, to have been à magnificent building, and which, he thinks, is the fame with Salem here spoken of (187). But it is not likely, that the former was fo near Shechom, any more than the Salim where John the Baptift did frequent (188), which was near Jordan; whereas Shechem was at a distance from it: Befides, Jofephus tells us, that the old Salem was the fame as Jerufalem (189). And the Pfalmift feems to intimate the fame, when he fays, At Salem was his tabernacle, and his dwelling in Sion (190); but the fuppofed Salem near Shechem must have been near thirty miles from Jerufalem.

(190) Pfal. lxxvi, 2.

(186). Gen. xiv. 18. (187) Hieron. quæft. Hebr.
·(189) Ant. 7. i 6,11,
VOL. III.

U

(188) Jobn
and

and the rest of the inhabitants of the country would, no doubt, have made them pay dear for it, had not GoD interpofed, and fent a panic fear amongst them, infomuch that they even let them depart quietly, and carry off all the plunder they had got from the flaughtered Shechemites n.

Jacob is GOD was foon pleased to diffipate all Jacob's fears once bid to go more by fpeaking to him in a dream, and bidding him go and dwell to Bethel, where he had formerly appeared to him when at Bethel. he fled from his brother, and to dwell there, and build an altar unto him. Here Jacob, unwilling to profane that holy place by carrying with him any thing that might be difpleafing to GOD, ordered his family to deliver to him all the idols they had taken from the Shechemites, or brought from Padan-aram, not indeed to be destroyed, as Their idolsone might have expected, but to be buried in a deep hole, buried. which he caused to be made under an oak near to Shechem. His commands were forthwith obeyed, and they parted even with their very ear-rings, which they used to wear as talifmans or charms against fickness and other misforYear of tunes o. After which Jacob and his whole family fet out flood with all they had, and arrived safe at Luz, afterwards 616. called Bethel: none of the neighbouring inhabitants daBef.Chrift ring to pursue them. As foon as he came thither, he 1732. built an altar to GOD, and called it El Bethel, or the GOD of Bethel: foon after which Deborah, his mother's Deborah nurfe, died, and was buried under an oak at the foot of the hill of Bethel, and the place was called Allon Bachuth, or the oak of mourning. He made but a fhort stay at Bethel, being defirous to go to vifit his father, whom, for ought we find, he had not seen fince he went to Mefopotamia: but, as he was marching towards Ephrath, Rachel fell in labour at a fmall diftance from the place; and, perRachel ceiving that it would coft her her life, called the child dies, and is Benoni, or the fon of my affliction; but after fhe was buried at dead, Jacob changed that name, too apt to reEphrath. vive his grief for her lofs, into that of Benjamin, or the

dies.

fon of my right-hand. Rachel was buried in the way to Ephrath, and a ftone monument was reared over the grave, which was ftill to be feen in Mofes's time. This was not the only misfortune that Jacob met with in this place for his fon Reuben having taken a liking to Bilbab, Reuben's his father's concubine, and Rachel's maid, he did not inceft. fcruple to comply with his wicked inclination: which

n Gen. xxxiv. per tot. XXXV. 4.

4.

•See CALMET. comm. in Gen,

made

made fo deep an impreffion in his father's heart, that he grieved at it to his dying day P. Soon after this Jacob Year of left that melancholy place, and came at length to Mamre, the flood to his old father Ifaac, with whom he continued almoft 619. the space of thirteen years, fome fay, nineteen, that is, Bef. Chr. till the good old man departed this life, which he did in 1729. a very advanced age, being an hundred and eighty years old, having been almoft blind and decrepit a confiderable Ifaac dies, part of that time (H). His two fons buried him in the cave of Machpelah with Abraham and Sarah; after which Efau returned home, and Jacob continued at Mamre 9.

and is bu

ried by his

two fons.

HOWEVER, the happinefs which Jacob had enjoyed Year of during his ftay with his father, had not been without fome the flood allay. Jofeph, then about seventeen years of age, was 632. become his darling, in regard of the excellencies both of Bef. Chr. his body and mind. But his fondness for him raised no 1716. fmall jealoufy in his brothers (K). What increased it ftill

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(H) The Jews tell us, that the mafters who taught Ifaac the law of GOD, were the patriarchs Shem and Heber, who were ftill living; and that, when Abraham took him with him to mount Moriah to facrifice him there, he told Sarah, that he was going with him to the school of Shem (197). They likewife attribute to him the compofing of the noonprayers, which they conftantly ufe: for they think Abraham was the author of thofe of the morning, and Jacob, of thofe of the evening, and Ifaac of thofe of noon (198). 3 (K) Moft verfions, as well as ours, have made Jacob to love Jofeph, because he was

Jofeph be

more loved by

See alfo vol. ii. his father.

the fon of his old age; where-
as he had two fons younger
than he, viz. Zebulun and
Benjamin, and this last was
born above fifteen years after
him. It seems, they have mif-
taken the words
ben
zekenim, the son of fenators
or elders, as he is called here,
for p ben ziknah, the
fon of old age. But the for-
mer has a quite different mean-
ing, it fignifying, according
to the Hebrew idiom, the fon
or difciple of fenators; that is,
because he was endued with
extraordinary wisdom and pru-
dence. Accordingly the Sa-
maritan, Perfic, and Arabic
verfions have rendered it, be-
cause he was a wife and pru

(197) Sgambat. archiu. Vet. Teft. 1. & p. 197. cryph. Vet, Teft.

(198) Fabric. apó•.

U 2

dent

Hated by more was, that Jofeph, having obferved fome vile actions in the fons of Bilhah and Zilpah, with whom his father

his brethren.

dreams.

had fent him to feed the fheep, in hopes that they would pay him a greater regard than his other brethren, came His two and acquainted him with it. But he himself helped to complete their envy, or rather to turn it into an irreconcileable hatred, by innocently telling them fome dreams he had, which feemed to forefhew, that he fhould one day get the power and authority over them. One of them was, that he faw in a wheat-field his own fheaf ftanding upright, and theirs falling down before it, and paying homage to it. Another was, that he faw the fun, moon, and eleven ftars, doing the like obeifance to him. This laft he likewife told his father, who, though he could not perhaps but think it fignificative of fome great fortune that would attend him; yet, obferving with what envy his brethren heard it, thought fit to rebuke him severely before them, afking him, if he thought, that his father, mother, and brethren, were to bow themselves to the earth to him? But this rather helped to increase their hatred against him, and made them refolve on his death. It was not long before an opportunity offered of executthe flooding their defign. Jacob, being uneafy that he had not heard from them, fince they were gone to Shechem with Bef. Chr. their flocks, fent Jofeph to inquire after them; and these no fooner faw him, but they all agreed to rid themselves of the dreamer, as they called him, and make their father believe, that some wild beast had devoured him. They had executed their bloody defign, without any regard either to his tears, his age, or to the grief which the news of his death would cause to their aged father, had not Reuben diffuaded them from imbruing their hands in his blood, and advised them to throw him alive into a pit, and let hunger and grief perform that cruel office. Whether the fear of the guilt of blood, or defire to make him die a

Year of

619.

1729.

dent fon; though even this
comes fhort of the energy of
the idiom, and might be more
properly tranflated, because he
had the wifdom or prudence of
a fenator (198).

Juftin in epitome of Trogus
makes mention of his being

(198) Vid. Le Scen. effay.

fold into Egypt by his brethren, who envied the excellency of his wit, and, having got him privately into their hands, fold him to fome merchants, who carried him down into that country (199).

(199) Juftin, I. xxxvi, 6. 2.

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more lingering death, prevailed upon them to take the advice, they let him down into the pit. In the mean time a troop of Ishmaelites happening to pafs by, with fpices and balm from Gilead, and bound for Egypt, Judah perfuaded his brethren to fell him to them, fince his He is fold death would do them no more service than his being car- and carried down into Egypt. Accordingly Jofeph was fold to ried down the merchants, and carried off unknown to Reuben, whofe to Egypt. defign was to have got him out of the pit, and to have fent him back privately to his father. The furprize and concern he was in when he found him gone, forced fuch complaints from him, that they took the more care not to let him know what was become of him. Soon after, having dipped his party-coloured coat in fome kid's blood, they fent it home to their father; who no fooner faw it, than, thinking that his beloved child had been torn in pieces by fome wild beaft, he took his fuppofed lofs fo to heart, that he did not ceafe mourning for him, till he heard the furprifing news of his advancement in Egypts, where Jofeph happened to be fold to an officer of the Sold there king's guard, named Potiphar (M). Here Jofeph fhewed foPotiphar. fuch diligence and integrity, and proved fo fuccefsful in all he undertook, that his mafter foon committed the care of all his affairs wholly into his hands. He had been ten years in Potiphar's houfe, when his miftrefs, taken Is folicited with the extraordinary comeliness of his perfon, after to an afeveral other unfuccefsful attempts to make him comply mour by his with her wanton defires, accofted him one day when the mistress. whole family was abroad, in fo paffionate a manner, that Jofeph, not thinking it fafe to stay and expoftulate with her, as he had frequently done, abruptly withdrew, leaving his upper garment, which the had laid hold of, in her

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