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nial, might have had his hunger satisfied, and kept his birthright. So we may moderately use the good things of life, and our spiritual interest not be in danger by it: but if men will make provision for the flesh, run on to excess, and destroy their reason, then, when their passions are strong, they will do any thing: blaspheme God, injure their neighbours, and sport away their souls: and their case will be the same as Esau's; they, if they do not repent immediately, may find no place for repentance hereafter; nor will God accept them : but, according to his threatenings, exclude all such shameless persons from the kingdom of heaven, as he did Esau from the earthly Canaan. Let us therefore be upon our guard, knowing that we are in a corrupt body, and easily led astray; surrounded with bad examples, and exposed to the solicitations of the evil one, who takes advantage of all our hasty passions, to hurry us on to sin and ruin. Let us deny ourselves, keep under our bodies, and be spiritually minded; never resign spiritual blessings and eternal glory, for any of the accommodations and delights of this world. Better, a thousand times better, to die by hunger or thirst, than to go down to destruction, where there is not a crumb of comfort, or a drop of ease. If we habituate ourselves to a steady course of sobriety and heavenly mindedness, God will delight to bless us; he will fulfil the promise of his covenant to us here, and at length give us a place in the church of the first born that are written in heaven.

CHAP. XXVI.

We have here Isaac's departure to Gerar, on account of the famine; his denying his wife, and the reproof for it; the envy and contention of the Philistines at his prosperity: the covenant_between him and Abimelech ; and the marriage of his eldest son, Esau.

ND there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Though a

good land, yet it was turned into barrenness by the wickedness of those who dwelt therein. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, (not the same Abimelech that was men→ tioned before, but his son, or successor,) unto Gerar, where Isaac was born.

And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, where Abraham went; but dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Thus God was pleased to direct his steps, and also to renew the promise made to Abraham, saying, Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto 4 Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply

as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth 5 be blessed; for this reason, Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.*

6 7 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: And the men of the place asked [him] of his wife; and he said, She [is] my sister: for he feared to say, [She is] my wife; lest, [said he,] the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she [was] fair to look upon. Thus he fell into the same snare and sin that 8 Abraham did. And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac [was] sporting with Rebekah his wife; using some familiarity which he thought a man of Isaac's gravity and goodness would not take with his 9 sister. And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she [is] thy wife and how saidst thou, She [is] my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die 10 for her. And Abimelech said, What [is] this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldst have brought guiltiness upon us.† 11 And Abimelech charged all [his] people, saying, He that toucheth, or hurteth, this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

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Then Isaac sowed in some part of that land, which he had probably hired, and received in the same year an hundred 13 fold and the LORD blessed him: And the man waxed great,

and went forward, and grew until he became very great : 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and

great store of servants, for managing his husbandry: and the 15 Philistines envied him. For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines, contrary to their covenant and oath, (ch. xxi. 30, 31.) had stopped them, and filled them with earth, because 16 they envied Isaac. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we; this may breed contentions, and be attended with dangerous consequences. 17 And Isaac, without resistance, and for peace sake, gave up his lands and departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

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And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham : and he

*It must give high delight to Isaac to hear his father thus honourably mentioned, and it was a powerful motive to him to go and do likewise.

Such an enormous crime did the Philistines think adultery to be, that Abimelech expected God would have punished all his country for it.

This he had a right to do by agreement, and there he was sure to find water. VOL. I.

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called their names after the names by which his father had 19 called them, out of respect to his father's memory. And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well 20 of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water [is] ours and he called the name of the well Esek, that is, contention; because 21 they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah, that 22 is, hatred. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not : and he called the name of it Rehoboth, that is, room; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And after some time, the famine being ended, and being afraid 24 of the Philistines, he went up from thence to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I [am] the God of Abraham thy father fear not these Philistines, or any mischief by them, for I [am] with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake, 25 and for the sake of the covenant made with him. And he build ed an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there and there Isaac's servants digged a well.

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Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol* the chief captain of his army. 27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing 28 ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they

said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee; and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, [even] betwixt 29 us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace; thou [art] now the blessed of the LORD; and since God hath blessed thee so abundantly, thou oughtest not to 30 remember the small unkindness showed thee. And he made 31 them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up

betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac 32 sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and 33 said unto him, We have found water. And he called it Shebah, that is, an oath: therefore the name of the city [is] Beersheba, that is, the well of the oath, unto this day.

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And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daugh35 ter of Elon the Hittite, both of them Canaanites: Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah; being contrary t the command of his father, mother, and grandfather.

This was probably a general name for the chief officer of the army.

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REFLECTIONS.

WOW comfortable is it to converse with God, as the

edly was glad that he was the heir of so good a man, and to have the promise, made to Abraham, renewed to him and his seed. As we desire the God of our fathers to bless us, let us see to it that we walk in their steps. Know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. As our God, let us praise him; as our fathers' God, let us exalt him.

2. We are in danger of imitating the failings of good men who are near and dear to us. Affection for them, and regard to their memory, lessen their faults in our esteem. There was a meanness even in Isaac's conduct. The appearance of God twice for his father, should have taught him to act better; but he fell into the same error. We have all need to be watchful in following the example even of good men, lest we adopt their miscarriages: we should follow them no further than they followed Christ; only in that which is good.

3. Adultery is a great crime, and brings guilt upon a nation; it is baseness and injustice both to God and man; it was condemned by heathen nations; by the law of the Jews such were to be put to death; so they were by the Saxon law; and it is strange it should not be so now. Profane persons may think and speak lightly of it, but such God will judge; and they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,

4. Let us seek the blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich. Isaac occupied other people's land, and the Lord blessed him. On that we should all depend. Let those whose labour is in the field, and who cultivate the land, look up to God for a blessing on the seed they sow, and pray the God of nature to prosper their labour. Let ministers also look to God to prosper the seed of the word, that it may not return void, but bring forth abundant fruit to the glory of God, and the eternal advantage of men's souls. Neither is he that soweth or planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.

5. It is God that maketh room for us in every agreeable settlement, v. 22. After difficulties and straits God will bring us into a large place, and make our way prosperous. Let us see his hand and adore his goodness, who fixes our stations, and makes our endeavours successful; and give him all the praise. We shall be likely to find it so, if we study a peaceful, contented spirit, and give up our interest for the sake of peace. To promote this, let us carry a sense of his presence wherever we go; build an altar, and call upon his name, in those settlements which Providence allots us. If we set the Lord always before us, we shall not be moved

6. The imprudent and sinful behaviour of children, is a great grief to pious parents; especially when they join themselves to irreligious families, and are unequally yoked with unbelievers. Esau's conduct imbittered Isaac's comfort, notwithstanding all his prosperity. A foolish son is a heaviness to his father. Let those wicked children, who are a grief of mind to their pious parents, and are bringing down their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, know and consider, that God remembers their grief, will reckon with those who were the authors of it, and inflict a heavy punishment upon them, unless they repent of so ungrateful and abominable a conduct. Let parents inure their children to acts of self-denial and mortification; and carefully restrain them from the appearance of evil, as the most likely way to keep them from such practices as would be a grief to their parents; and incline them to those which would make them growing comforts to their parents and friends, and ornaments to religion. My son, says Solomon, if thou be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

CHAP. XXVII.

We have before been informed of the struggles between Esau and Jacob, here we have a further account of them. Isaac intended to bless Esau; Rebekah contrives to prevent it; the blessing is conferred on Jacob; Esau laments it in vain; and discovers great enmity to his brother.

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ND it came to pass, that when Isaac was an hundred and thirty seven years old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son and he said unto him, Behold [here am] 2 I. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death; how soon I may die, I expect it every day: 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me [some] venison : 4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring [it] to me, that I may eat, and be refreshed and strengthened; that my soul may bless thee before I die; bestow my solemn, extraordinary, and prophetical blessing, whereby I declare and constitute thee my heir apparent of all the blessings bestowed by God upon me and my fathers. Isaac, out of his fond affection to Esau, endeavours to entail the blessing upon him; but God, by 5 Rebekah's means, disappoints his purpose. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went

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to the field to hunt [for] venison, [and] to bring [it.]

And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I

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