Pgs. 88-96

Ch. 25-28

SECTION VI.

TOLEDOTH.

 

AND these are the generations of Izhak bar Abraham. Abraham begat Izhak; and Izhak was a son of forty years when he took Revekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramite of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Aramite, to be his wife. And Izhak. prayed before the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord hearkened to his prayer, and Revekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled in her womb; and she said, If thus, why have I conceived? And she went to seek instruction before the Lord: and the Lord said to her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two kingdoms from thy womb shall be divided, and (one) kingdom (shall be) stronger than (the other) kingdom, and the greater shall be subject to the less. And her days were fulfilled to give birth. And, behold, twins were in her womb. And the first came forth red, all of him as a garment (covering) of hair; and they called his name Esau. And afterwards came forth his brother, and his hand grasped the heel of Esau, and they called his name Jakob.[1] And Izhak was sixty years old when he begat them. And the youths grew; and Esau was a man of idleness, a man going out into the field; and Jakob was a man of peace, a minister of the house of instruction. And Izhak loved Esau, because he ate of his hunting, and Rivekah loved Jakob. And Jakob dressed pottage, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jakob, Let me taste now of that red, that red! for I am faint: (therefore he called his name Edom:[2]) and Jakob said, Sell this day thy birthright to me. And Esau said, Behold, I am going to die, and what is this birthright to me?[3] And Jakob said, Swear to me to‑day; and he sware to him and he sold his birthright to Jakob. And Jakob gave to Esau bread and pottage of lentiles. And he ate and drank, and arose, and went: and Esau despised the birthright.

 

XXVI. And there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham; and Izhak went to Abimelek, king of the Philistaee, to Gerar.[4] And the Lord appeared to him and said, Go not down into Mizraim,[5] remain in the land as I have told thee; dwell in this land, and My Word shall be to thee for a helper; and I will bless thee. For to thee and to thy son will I give all these lands; and I will confirm the oath that I have sworn to Abraham thy father; and I will multiply thy son as the stars of heaven, and will give thy son all these lands, and through thy son shall all the peoples of the earth be blessed, because Abraham obeyed My word, and kept the keeping of My word, My commandments, My covenant, and My law. And Izhak dwelt at Gerar; and the men of the place asked respecting his wife. And he said, She is my sister; for he feared to say, My wife, lest the men of the place should kill him on account of Revekah; for she was of beautiful aspect. And it was when be had been there many days that Abimelek the king of the Philistaee looked from a window, and, be­hold, Izhak was sporting with Revekah his wife. And Abimelek called Izhak and said, Nevertheless, behold,

she is thy wife: why then hast thou said, She is my sister? And Izhak said to him, Because I said, Lest I be killed on account of her. And Abimelek said, What is this that thou hast done to us? It might have been that some one of the people had lain with thy wife, and thou wouldst have brought upon us the guilt. And Abimelek commanded all the people saying, Whoever injureth this man shall surely be put to death. And Izhak sowed in the land, and found in that year a hundred fold on that which he had expended, (or esti­mated,) and the Lord blessed him; and the man increased, and went on multiplying and increasing, until he had increased greatly. And he had flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, and many servants; and the Philistaee were envious of him. And all the wells that the servants of his father had digged in the days of Abra­ham the Philistaee stopped up, and filled with dust. And Abimelek said to Izhak, Go from us; for thou art much stronger than we. And Izhak went thence, and sojourned in the vale of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Izhak returned, and digged the well of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistaee had stopped after the death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And the servants of Izhak digged in the valley, and found there a well of flowing[6] waters. And the shepherds of Gerar strove with the shepherds of Izhak, saying, The water is ours; and he called the name of the well Contention, because they had contended with him. And they digged another well, and they strove also on account of it, and he called the name of it Hatred. And he went up from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Spaciousness. For he said, Because now hath the Lord enlarged us, and we shall spread abroad in the land. And he went up from thence to Beershava; and the Lord appeared to him in the night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not: for in thy help is My Word; and I will bless thee, and will multiply thy sons for the sake of Abraham My servant. And he builded there an altar, and prayed in the name of the Lord. And he spread there his tabernacle; and the servants of Izhak digged there a well. And Abimelek came to him from Gerar, and a company of his friends, and Phikol[7] the chief of his host. And Izhak said to him, Why have you come to me, when you have hated me, and sent me from you? And they said, Seeing we have seen that the Word of the Lord is for thy help; and we have said, Let the oath which was between our fathers be now confirmed between us and thee, and let us enter into a covenant with thee, that thou do us no evil, as we have not injured thee, and as we have done thee only good, and we will leave thee in peace; thou art now blessed of the Lord. And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. And they arose in the morning and covenanted, each man with his brother; and Izhak dismissed them, and they went from him in peace. And it was in that day that the servants of Izhak came and showed him concerning the well that they had digged. And they said to him, We have found water. And he called it Sheva, (the swearing). Wherefore the name of the city is Beer‑sheva unto this day.

 

And Esau was the son of forty years, and he took to wife Jehudith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they were rebels and irritators against the word of Izhak and Revekah.

 

XXVII. And it was, when Izhak was old, and his eyes were darkened from seeing, that he called Esau, his eldest son, and said to him, My son. And he said to him, Behold, I am. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day that I shall die: and now take thy weapons, thy knife and thy bow, and go out into the field, and hunt me venison, and make me food[8] I such as I like, and bring it to me, and I will eat, and my soul shall bless thee before I die. And Revekah listened as Izhak was speaking with his son Esau. And Esau went into the field to hunt venison to bring it. And Revekah spake to Jakob, her son, saying, Behold, I have heard thy father speaking with Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me now venison, and make me food, and I will eat and bless thee in the presence of the Lord before I die. And now, my son, obey me in what I command thee. Go now to the flock, and take thee from thence two good goat‑kids, and make them into food for thy father such as he loves, and carry in to thy father, that he may eat, and bless thee before he die. And Jakob said to Revekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. It may be that my father will feel me, and I shall be in his eyes as a deceiver, and shall bring upon me curses, and not blessings. And his mother said to him, Unto me it hath been said in prophecy, that there shall be no curses upon thee, my son; only obey me, and go, and take for me. And he went, and took, and brought to his mother, and his mother made food such as his father loved. And Revekah took the vestments of Esau her elder son, (which were) clean, and were with her in the house, and clothed Jakob her younger son. And with the skins of the kids she covered his hands, and upon the smoothness of his neck. And she gave the food and the bread that she had made into the hand of Jakob her son. And he went in to his father, and said, Father! And he said, Behold me. Who art thou, my son? And Jakob said to his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn: I have done as thou hast told me. Arise now, turn thyseIf, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Izhak said to his son, What is this, thou hast so quickly found, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God prepared it before me. And Izhak said to Jakob, Draw near now, and I will feel thee, my son, whether thou be my son Esau or not. And Jakob drew near to Izhak his father, and he felt him, and said, The voice is the voice of Jakob; but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he could not be known, because his hands were hairy, like the hands of Esau his brother; and he blessed him. And he said, But art thou my son Esau? And he said, I am! And he said, Bring before me, and I will eat of my sons venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he offered to him, and he did eat; and he brought him wine, and he drank. And Izhak his father said to him, Approach now, and kiss me, my son. And he approached, and kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his vestments, and blessed him, and said, Lo, the smell of my son is as the fragrance of a field which the Lord hath blessed. And the Lord shall give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the goodness of the earth, and abundance of corn and of wine. Let the peoples serve thee, and kingdoms be subservient to thee: be thou chief of thy brethren, and let the sons of thy mother worship thee: cursed shall they be who curse thee, and blessed shall they be who bless thee!                                                                 

 

And it was when Izhak had completed to bless Jakob, and Jakob had, going, only gone out from Izhak his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he had also made food, and he brought it to his father, and said to his father, Arise, my father, and eat of thy son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Izhak his father said to him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. And Izhak was wonderstruck with exceeding great wonder, and said, Who was he who prepared venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and I have blessed him? and blessed shall he be. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried a cry, great and bitter exceedingly. And he said to his father, Bless me, also, me, father! And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath received thy blessing. And he said, Rightly is his name called Jakob, he hath dealt subtilly with me these two times; my birthright he took, and, behold, now he hath received my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not left me a blessing? And Izhak answered, and said to Esau, Behold, I have set him a chief over thee, and all his brethren I have given to him for servants, and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and for thee now what can I do, my son? And Esau said to his father, Hast thou but one blessing, father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Izhak his father answered and said to him, Behold, thy habitation shall be of the best of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thy brother obey; and it will be that when his sons shall have transgressed the words of the law, thou wilt cast his yoke from off thy neck. And Esau kept enmity towards Jakob for the blessing wherewith his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for father draw near and I wilt kill Jakob my brother. And the words of Esau her eldest son were shown to Revekah, and she sent and called Jakob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, Esau thy brother plotteth against thee to kill thee. And now, my son, receive from me, and arise and go to Laban my brother at Haran, and dwell with him a few days, until thy brother's wrath turn away, until the anger of thy brother turn from thee, and what thou hast done to him be forgotten; and I will send and bring thee thence. Why should I be bereaved of both of you in one day? And Revekah said to Izhak, I am grieved in my life at the sight of the daughters of Hittah. If Jakob take a wife of the daughters of Hittah, like these of the daughters of the land, what to me is life?

 

XXVIII. And Izhak called Jakob and blessed him. And he commanded him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Kenaan; arise, go to Padan Aram to the house of Bethuel the father of thy mother, and take to thee from thence a wife of the daughters of Laban, the brother of thy mother. And the All‑sufficient God bless thee, and make thee to increase and multiply, and become an assemblage of tribes; and give the blessing of Abraham to thee and thy sons with thee, that thou mayest inherit the land of thy habitation which the Lord gave to Abraham. And Izhak sent Jakob away, and he went to Padan Aram to Laban bar Bethuel, the Aramite, the brother of Revekah, the mother of Jakob and Esau. And Esau, when he saw that Izhak had blessed Jakob, and sent him to Padan Aram to take from thence a wife, and, as he blessed him, commanded him, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Kenaan, and that Jakob had obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Padan Aram, Esau, considering that the daughters of Kenaan were evil in the eyes of Izhak his father, went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael bar Abraham, the sister of Nebaioth, over his wives, unto him to wife.

[1] Ya-a-kov.

[1] "Red."

[1] Sam. Vers. "and what is my business with the birthright?"

[1] Sam. Vers. "at Askelon."

[1] Sam. Vers. "Nophig."

[1] Sam. Vers. "sweet."

[1] Here the Sam. Vers. metaphrases the name into "Mimarkol," with the same import as "Pumkol" in chap. xxi.

[1] Tavshelin, "stewed meats."