JACOB
afterwards
a
double
portion
of
the
patrimony
(Dt
21"),
with
probably
the
domestic
priesthood.
At
a
later
time,
after
careful
consideration
(Gn
27""),
he
adopted
the
device
suggested
by
his
mother,
and,
allaying
with
ingeni-ous
falsehoods
(27^1')
his
father's
suspicion,
inter-cepted
also
his
blessing.
Isaac
was
dismayed,
but
in-stead
of
revoking
the
blessing
confirmed
it
(27"-"),
and
was
not
able
to
remove
Esau's
bitterness.
In
both
blessings
later
political
and
geographical
conditions
are
reflected.
To
Jacob
is
promised
Canaan,
a
well-
watered
land
of
fields
and
vineyards
(Dt
11"
3328),
with
sovereignty
over
its
peoples,
even
those
who
were
'brethren'
or
descended
from
the
same
ancestry
as
Israel
(Gn
IQ^"-,
2
S
S'^.
").
Esau
is
consigned
to
the
dry
and
rocky
districts
of
Idumaea,
with
a
life
of
war
and
plunder;
but
his
subjection
to
Jacob
is
limited
in
duration
(2
K
8*=),
if
not
also
in
completeness
(Gn
27"'-,
which
points
to
the
restlessness
of
Edom).
Of
this
successful
craft
on
Jacob's
part
the
natural
result
on
Esau's
was
hatred
and
resentment,
to
avoid
which
Jacob
left
his
home
to
spend
a
few
days
(27")
with
his
uncle
in
Haran.
Two
different
motives
are
assigned.
JE
represents
Rebekah
as
pleading
with
her
son
his
danger
from
Esau;
but
P
represents
her
as
suggesting
to
Isaac
the
danger
that
Jacob
might
marry
a
Hittite
wife
(27").
The
traditions
appear
on
literary
grounds
to
have
come
from
different
sources;
but
there
is
no
real
difficulty
in
the
narrative
as
it
stands.
Not
only
are
man's
motives
often
complex;
but
a
woman
would
be
likely
to
use
different
pleas
to
a
husband
and
to
a
son,
and
if
a
mother
can
counsel
her
son
to
yield
to
his
fear,
a
father
would
be
more
alive
to
the
possibility
of
an
outbreak
of
folly.
On
his
way
to
Haran,
Jacob
passed
a
night
at
Bethel
(cf.
13"),
and
his
sleep
was,
not
unnaturally,
disturbed
by
dreams;
the
cromlechs
and
stone
terraces
of
the
district
seemed
to
arrange
themselves
into
a
ladder
reaching
from
earth
to
heaven,
with
angels
ascending
and
descending,
whilst
Jehovah
Himself
bent
over
him
(28"
RVm)
with
loving
assur-ances.
Reminded
thus
of
the
watchful
providence
of
God,
Jacob's
alarms
were
transmuted
into
religious
awe.
He
marked
the
sanctity
of
the
spot
by
setting
up
as
a
sacred
piUar
the
boulder
on
which
his
head
had
rested,
and
undertook
to
dedicate
a
tithe
of
all
his
gains.
Thence-forward
Bethel
became
a
famous
sanctuary,
and
Jacob
himself
visited
it
again
(35';
cf.
Hos
12«).
Arrived
at
Haran,
Jacob
met
in
his
uncle
his
superior
for
a
time
in
the
art
of
overreaching.
By
a
ruse
Laban
secured
fourteen
years'
service
(29^',
Hos
12",
Jth
8^),
to
which
six
years
more
were
added,
under
an
ingenious
arrangement
in
which
the
exacting
uncle
was
at
last
outwitted
(30"").
At
the
end
of
the
term
Jacob
was
the
head
of
a
household
conspicuous
even
in
those
days
for
its
magnitude
and
prosperity.
Quarrels
with
Laban
and
his
sons
ensued,
but
God
is
represented
as
intervening
to
turn
their
arbitrary
actions
(31™)
to
Jacob's
advantage.
At
length
he
took
flight
whilst
Laban
was
engaged
in
sheep-shearing,
and,
re-crossing
the
Euphrates
on
his
way
home,
reached
Gilead.
There
he
was
overtaken
by
Laban,
whose
exasperation
was
increased
by
the
fact
that
his
teraphim,
or
household
gods,
had
been
taken
away
by
the
fugitives,
Rachel's"
hope
in
stealing
them
being
to
appropriate
the
good
fortune
of
her
fathers.
The
dispute
that
followed
was
closed
by
an
alliance
of
friendship,
the
double
covenant
being
sealed
by
setting
up
in
commemoration
a
cairn
with
a
solitary
boulder
by
Its
side
(31«'-
'2),
and
by
sharing
a
sacrificial
meal.
Jacob
promised
to
treat
Laban's
daughters
with
special
kindness,
and
both
Jacob
and
Laban
undertook
to
respect
the
boundary
they
had
agreed
upon
between
the
territories
of
Israel
and
of
the
Syrians.
Thereupon
Laban
returned
home;
and
Jacob
continued
his
journey
to
Canaan,
and
was
met
by
the
angels
of
God
(32'),
as
if
to
congratulate
and
welcome
him
as
he
approached
the
Land
of
Promise.
Jacob
s
next
problem
was
to
conciliate
his
brother,
who
JACOB
was
reported
to
be
advancing
against
him
with
a
large
body
of
men
(32').
Three
measures
were
adopted.
When
a
submissive
message
elicited
no
response,
Jacob
in
dismay
turned
to
God,
though
without
any
expression
of
regret
for
the
deceit
by
which
he
had
wronged
his
brother,
and
proceeded
to
divide
his
party
into
two
companies,
in
the
hope
that
one
at
least
would
escape,
and
to
try
to
appease
Esau
with
a
great
gift.
The
next
night
came
the
turning-point
in
Jacob's
life.
Hitherto
he
had
been
ambitious,
steady
of
purpose,
subject
to
genuine
religious
feeling,
but
given
up
almost
wholly
to
the
use
of
crooked
methods.
Now
the
higher
ele-ments
in
his
nature
gain
the
ascendency;
and
hence-forth,
though
he
is
no
less
resourceful
and
politic,
his
fear
of
God
ceases
to
be
spoilt
by
intervening
passions
or
a
competing
self-confidence.
Alone
on
the
banks
of
the
Jabbok
(Wady
Zerka),
full
of
doubt
as
to
the
fate
that
would
overtake
him,
he
recognizes
at
last
that
his
real
antagonist
is
not
Esau
but
God.
All
his
fraud
and
deceit
had
been
pre-eminently
sin
against
God
;
and
what
he
needed
supremely
was
not
reconcilia-tion
with
his
brother,
but
the
blessing
of
God.
So
vivid
was
the
impression,
that
the
entire
night
seemed
to
be
spent
in
actual
wrestling
with
a
living
man.
His
thigh
was
sprained
in
the
contest
;
but
since
his
will
was
so
fixed
that
he
simply
would
not
be
refused,
the
blessing
came
with
the
daybreak
(32^8).
His
name
was
changed
to
Israel,
which
means
etymologically
'God
perseveres,'
but
was
applied
to
Jacob
in
the
sense
of
'Perseverer
with
God
'
(Hos
128'-).
And
as
a
name
was
to
a
Hebrew
a
symbol
of
nature
(Is
l*"
618),
jtg
change
was
a
symbol
of
a
changed
character;
and
the
supplanter
became
the
one
who
persevered
in
putting
forth
his
strength
in
communion
with
God,
and
therefore
prevailed.
His
brother
received
him
cordially
(33<),
and
offered
to
escort
him
during
the
rest
of
the
journey.
The
offer
was
courteously
declined,
ostensibly
because
of
the
difference
of
pace
between
the
two
companies,
but
probably
also
with
a
view
to
incur
no
obligation
and
to
risk
no
rupture.
Esau
returned
to
Seir;
and
Jacob
moved
on
to
a
suitable
site
for
an
encampment,
wliich
received
the
name
of
Succoth,
from
the
booths
that
were
erected
on
it
(33").
It
was
east
of
the
Jordan,
and
probably
not
far
from
the
junction
with
the
Jabbok.
The
valley
was
suitable
for
the
recuperation
of
the
fiocks
and
herds
after
so
long
a
journey;
and
it
is
prob-able,
from
the
character
of
the
buildings
erected,
as
well
as
from
the
fact
that
opportunity
must
be
given
for
Dinah,
one
of
the
youngest
of
the
children
(3ff"),
to
reach
a
marriageable
age
(3**-),
that
Jacob
stayed
there
for
several
years.
After
a
residence
of
uncertain
length
at
Succoth,
Jacob
crossed
the
Jordan
and
advanced
to
Shechezn,
where
he
purchased
a
plot
of
ground
which
became
after-wards
of
special
interest.
Joshua
seems
to
have
regarded
it
as
the
limit
of
his
expedition,
and
there
the
Law
was
promulgated
and
Joseph's
bones
were
buried
(Jos
2^-
8^;
cf.
Ac
7'8);
and
for
a
time
it
was
the
centre
of
the
confederation
of
the
northern
tribes
(1
K
12',
2
Ch
10').
Again
Jacob's
stay
must
not
be
measured
by
days;
for
he
erected
an
altar
(332»)
and
dug
a
well
(Jn
4?-
'2),
and
was
detained
by
domestic
troubles,
if
not
of
his
own
original
intention.
The
troubles
began
with
the
seduc-tion
or
outrage
of
Dinah;
but
the
narrative
that
follows
is
evidently
compacted
of
two
traditions.
According
to
the
one,
the
transaction
was
personal,
and
involved
a
fulfilment
by
Shechem
of
a
certain
unspecified
con-.
dition;
according
to
the
other,
the
entire
clan
was
involved
on
either
side,
and
the
story
is
that
of
the
danger
of
the
absorption
of
Israel
by
the
local
Canaanites
and
its
avoidance
through
the
interposition
of
Simeon
and
Levi.
But
most
of
the
difilciUties
disappear
on
the
assumption
that
Shechem's
marriage
was,
as
was
natural,
expedited,
a
delight
to
himself
and
generally
approved
amongst
his
kindred
(34").
That
pressing
matter
being
settled,
the
question
of
an
alUance
between
