The Bible Story Part 132

And he said, "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?"

And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Penuel: for, said he, "I have seen G.o.d face, to face, and my life is preserved."

{81}{82}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

NABLOUS, THE ANCIENT SHECHEM, IN THE VALLEY BETWEEN MOUNTS EBAL AND GERIZIM

Used by special permission of the Detroit Photograph Company.

The first camping place of Abraham. Jacob built an altar here, and dug a well, and here Joseph was buried. Joshua set up a great stone "as a witness" here at the end of his life. It was here at "Jacob's well," about a mile and a half from the town, that Jesus met the woman of Samaria.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{83}

And the sun rose upon him as he pa.s.sed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.

And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he himself pa.s.sed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, "Who are these with thee?"

And he said, "The children which G.o.d hath graciously given thy servant."

Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And he said, "What meanest thou by all this company which I met?"

And he said, "To find grace in the sight of my lord." And Esau said, "I have enough; my brother, let that which thou hast be thine."

And Jacob said, "Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of G.o.d, and thou wast pleased with me.

Take, I {84} pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because G.o.d hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough."

And he urged him, and he took it.

And he said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee."

And he said unto him, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young: and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pa.s.s over before his servant: and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir."

And Esau said, "Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me."

And he said, "What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord."

So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. And he bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it "G.o.d, the G.o.d of Israel."

{85}{86}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

BETHEL

Photograph taken by Mrs. Frank L. Goodspeed, of Springfield, Ma.s.s., and used by her kind permission.

One of Abraham's camping grounds and the place of Jacob's dream.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{87}

JACOB ERECTS AN ALTAR AT BETH-EL.

_He Is Given a New Name. The Death of Rachel_.

And G.o.d said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto G.o.d, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother."

Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, "Put away the foreign G.o.ds that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto G.o.d, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."

And they gave to Jacob all the foreign G.o.ds which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and a great terror was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place, "The G.o.d of Beth-el": because there G.o.d was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. And Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called "The Oak of Weeping."

And G.o.d appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And G.o.d said unto him, "Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any {88} more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name:" and he called his name Israel.

And G.o.d said unto him, "I am G.o.d Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come from thee; and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy family after thee will I give the land."

And G.o.d went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where G.o.d spoke with him, "Beth-el."

And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

(In this place Jacob lived for many years; but the sorrow that came to him, and the wonderful things that befell him in his old age, and how he journeyed to Egypt, and died there, are told in the next story, the story of Joseph, his son.)

{89}{90}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

MOSES

From the frieze of the Prophets, by Sargent, in the Boston Public Library.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{91}

JOSEPH

_The Story of the Shepherd Boy Who Was Sold into Bondage, and How He Became Ruler in a Great Nation_.

A COWARDLY DEED.

_Joseph Arouses the Enmity of His Older Brethren, and They Sell Him into Slavery_.

(Joseph and Benjamin were the sons of Rachel, Jacob's best loved wife.

Their mother died while Joseph was still a little boy and Benjamin was a baby. Their father loved the two motherless boys very much.)