The Garden of Eden 4

The Garden of Eden 4

And they called Rebekah and said, “How shall it be? Will you go with

this man to-day?” She said, “I will go.” So they bade her good-by, with

many prayers and blessings, and sent her maids along to wait upon her;

and her old nurse, Deborah, went with her.

 

Thus they rode away on camels, and they journeyed and they journeyed,

till one day they saw in the distance a man walking in the fields, and

he was coming to meet them. And Rebekah said, “Who is this man walking

across the fields to meet us?” And Eliezer replied, “That is my young

master, Isaac.” So Rebekah took a veil and covered herself, for that

was the custom of the country. And Isaac brought her into his mother’s

tent, and she became his wife. And he loved her; and Isaac was comforted

after his mother’s death.

 

 

 

 

V

 

THE MESS OF POTTAGE

 

 

Isaac and Rebekah had two sons. The elder was a red-headed lad, called

Esau. The younger was named Jacob. The two boys were quite different.

Esau was very fond of hunting. He loved to get away into the deep woods

and to climb the steep hills. For days at a time he would roam about,

with his bow and arrows, and when he came home he always had something

in his hand, some bird or beast which he had shot. Sometimes he brought

back a deer, and he knew how to cook the venison just as his father

liked it. And this pleased Isaac. Jacob was a home boy, who preferred to

stay about the house. He worked in the garden, and took care of the

sheep and cows, and helped his mother. And that pleased Rebekah. So

Isaac’s favorite son was Esau, and Rebekah’s favorite son was Jacob. But

Esau, being the elder, had the birthright. That is, he was the one to be

the head of the family after the death of his father.

 

But one day, Esau came home from hunting, very tired and hungry. And he

found Jacob cooking something over the fire. The fire was blazing, and

the kettle was boiling away at a great rate, and the most appetizing

odors were coming out of it, and in the kettle was a mess of pottage,

which was made of lentils, and was something like peas, and something

like beans, and something like chicken broth, and very nice to eat.

 

So Esau said, “Give me some of your pottage.”

 

But Jacob said, “I will sell it to you. Give me your birthright, and I

will give you my pottage.”

 

Then Esau said to himself, “What is the good of my birthright when I am

hungry! I can’t eat it. I can’t even see it. I will not have it for

years and years. But here is the pottage now.” And he said, “It is a

bargain. Give me the pottage.” Then Jacob emptied the kettle into the

dish, and hungry Esau, thinking no more of the birthright, sat down and

ate the hot pottage with a big spoon.

 

Then years passed and years passed, and their father Isaac became an old

man. His eyes were dim, and he could not see, and he felt that his life

was coming to an end. So, one morning, he called Esau and said, “Esau, I

wish you would take your bow and arrows, and go out and kill a deer. I

think that a taste of your venison will make me strong. And I want to be

strong to-day, because I intend to give you my blessing.”

 

So Esau took his bow and arrows, and away he went to find a deer.

 

But Rebekah had heard what Isaac said to Esau, and when Esau, with his

red head, had disappeared among the trees, she called Jacob. “Jacob,”

she said, “your father is not feeling so well to-day. He thinks that he

is about to die, and he means to give Esau the blessing of the

birthright. Now you go out into the pasture and bring me two little

goats, and kill them, and I will cook the meat of the goats so that your

father will think it is the sweetest venison he ever ate, and he will

give you the blessing which he has for Esau.”

 

But Jacob said, “Father will know at once that I am not Esau, for Esau’s

hands are covered with hair, but mine are smooth. He will find me out,

and be very angry with me.”

 

And Rebekah answered, “I will manage that, my son.”

 

Then Jacob went out into the pastures, and killed two kids of the goats,

and his mother cooked the meat so that it tasted like the sweetest

venison. And she dressed Jacob in Esau’s best clothes, and on his neck

and arms and hands she put some of the skin of the goats, and she gave

him the meat and bread, and in he went to feed his father.

 

Now Isaac was so old and sick that he lay in bed. So Jacob came into

his room, and said, “Sit up, father, and taste the nice venison which I

have brought you.”

 

And Isaac said, “How have you come so soon, my son?”

 

And Jacob answered, “God showed me a deer in the first field, and I

killed it with the first arrow.”

 

But Isaac was not satisfied. He sat up in bed and said, “Come near, my

son, and let me feel you, that I may know whether you are truly my son

Esau or not.” And Jacob went near and his father felt him, and the

clothes were Esau’s clothes and his hands and neck were rough and hairy

like Esau’s. And Isaac said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands

are the hands of Esau.”

 

And he asked again, “Are you my son Esau?”

 

And Jacob lied again, and said, “I am.”

 

And Isaac said, “Bring me, then, the meat that I may eat it.” And when

he had eaten he said, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” And Jacob

kissed him. And Isaac gave Jacob his best blessing, the blessing of the

birthright. And Jacob went away.

 

Now Jacob had hardly gone out of the room, when Esau came. “Here I am,

father,” he cried, “back from the hunting, and here is the meat which I

have cooked just as you always like it. Come, eat it, and bless me.”

 

And Isaac said, “Who are you?”

 

[Illustration: THE BLESSING OF THE SECOND SON]

 

And he answered, “I am your son, your eldest son, Esau.”

 

And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, “Who came, then, in your

place? Who brought venison and I ate it, and gave him your blessing?”

 

Then Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, “Bless me, even

me also, O my father!”

 

And Isaac said, “It was your brother, Jacob. He lied to me, and stole

your blessing. But I have blessed him, and I cannot change it. I have

made him the head of the family after my death.”

 

And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father?

bless me, even me also, O my father!” And Esau cried aloud. Then Isaac

blessed Esau also, but he could not give him so good a blessing as he

had given Jacob.

 

Now Rebekah had been thinking for a good while that it would be well for

Jacob to visit his cousins, who lived in the old country, beyond the

rivers. For there was a family in the neighborhood named Heth, whom

Isaac and Rebekah did not like, and they had a number of daughters, and

Jacob used to go to see them. It troubled Rebekah greatly, and more than

once she had said to Isaac, “Those Heth girls worry me almost to death.

How dreadful it would be if Jacob should marry one of them!” And Isaac

had said, “Let him go and see his cousins. A change will do him good.”

So now, when Jacob’s behavior had displeased his father and made his

brother so angry with him that he threatened to kill him, Rebekah felt

that the time had come. She packed up Jacob’s things, and sent him off

for a long visit at his Uncle Laban’s.

 

 

 

 

VI

 

JACOB’S VISIT

 

 

So Jacob mounted a camel, and away he went. And when the sun began to

set, he looked about him, and he was in a wild country where nobody

lived, and where the only roof in sight was the round roof of the sky.

So he lay down on the hard ground and put a smooth stone under his head

for a pillow, and went to sleep, for he was tired. And in the night he

dreamed a dream.

 

He thought that the night sky was all bright above him, and that there

was a ladder of light reaching from earth to heaven, and that there were

angels climbing up and climbing down, and that at the top of the ladder

was God himself, who said, “Jacob, this land on which you sleep shall

some time belong to you and to your children, and your family shall grow

into a great nation and be a blessing to the world.” Then all was dark

again, till the morning sun shone upon the sleeper.

 

That morning, after Jacob had said his prayers, he took the stone which

he had used for a pillow, and a lot of other stones, and piled them up

to mark the place. And he asked God to protect him from all the dangers

of the way and to bring him home again in peace; and he promised that he

would try to please God. For, in spite of the mean things that he had

done, there was a great deal of good in Jacob.

 

So he journeyed and he journeyed, and by and by he came to the river

Jordan, and his camel carried him over, wading across a shallow place.

And then he journeyed, and he journeyed, and he journeyed, till by and

by he came to the river Euphrates, and even over this wide river did his

camel carry him, finding a shallow place and wading across. And one day

about noon he came to a well in a field, and three flocks of sheep were

lying by it, but the mouth of the well was covered with a great stone.

 

And Jacob spoke to the shepherds and said, “Brothers, where do you

live?”

 

And they said, “We live in Haran.” And that was the very place for which

Jacob was looking.

 

And Jacob said, “Do you know anybody there named Laban?”

 

“Yes,” they said, “we know him.”

 

“Is he well?”

 

“Yes, he is very well, and there at this moment comes his daughter

Rachel with the sheep.”