journey. In a dream, God promised to give to his posterity, the land where he then was, and confirmed to him the promise, made to his grandfather Abraham, that the Redeemer should proceed from him. It is worthy of observation, that the two promises, that of the future possession of the land of Canaan, and of Him through whom all the nations of the Earth were to be blessed, were generally made together; and perhaps it might be for this reason, that as the children of Israel, found by their own experience, that the first part of the promise actually was fulfilled, so they might be induced to believe assuredly, that the latter part of it also would be. For their conquest, and possession of the Holy Land, upwards of 400 years after the first promise of it had been made to Abraham, was a pledge to them and a proof, that the greater and more general blessing, promised so often in the very same revelation, should not be withheld when the fulness of time should be come. A part of this dream, or vision, of Jacob, is supposed to be typical of Christ, with

2

respect

respect to the union between his divine and human nature; this was a Ladder, on which Angels were ascending and descending, the top of which reached to Heaven, while its foot rested on the ground. Whether this were the meaning of the vision or not, it seemed at least to point out a future more constant and immediate communication, between earth and heaven, and that man would be the care of God, through the ministry of his Angels*.

The place where this revelation was made to Jacob, was called by him Bethel, or the house of God, and was situated about 12 miles north of Jerusalem. Here the Patriarch afterwards, built an Altar, and received another blessing from God, by a personal communication; (Gen. xxxv. 9.) here, on the separation of the kingdom of Israel from that of Judah, Jeroboam set up the golden calf to be worshipped, and made Israel to sin; and here, which was then become the chief seat of Idolatry, forty

* Are they not all ministering spirits? Heb. i. 14. + Calmet.

two

two children, (that is, young men were miraculously destroyed by Bears, in consequence of their having insulted Elisha, the prophet of the Lord.

At the time of this journey, Jacob was 77 years of age; and after serving Laban his Uncle for seven years, he married Leah his eldest daughter. And here it may be remarked that it seemed fit to God to punish the deceit, which Jacob had used towards his brother, although the gracious ends of his providence, were answered by it. For Jacob thought he had married Rachel whom he loved, but her father deceived him, and in the morning he found that he had married Leah, and must endure another servitude of seven years, in order to obtain his favorite Rachel.

In the numerous family of Jacob, the certainty of the first part of God's promise to Abraham, began to be more apparent.

* See the whole of this transaction, clearly explained in Dr. Gregory Sharpe on Prophecy, p. 30, &c.

+ Lightfoot; who proves it from what is said in Scripture, concerning Joseph's birth, actions, &c. and Jacob's age, when he went into Egypt.

After

After 25 years of delay, Abraham had one son Isaac; and Isaac's wife was barren for twenty years after his marriage, and then had two sons, and bore no more. But Jacob had twelve sons, each of whom had several children. In this respect therefore, the promise began to be realized; but the most important part of it, that the Redeemer should descend from Jacob, must now of course, receive a farther limitation, to one only of his children, the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel.

As Abraham's life was prolonged till he saw his grandsons, Esau and Jacob; so Isaac also did not depart, till he had seen the completion of the temporal part of God's promises, and of his own prophetic blessing, in the prosperity and large families of both his sons, after Jacob had been absent from him about thirty years. He lived also to witness the reconciliation of his children, and to have his eyes closed by them in peace. But this blessing was denied Rebekah, who, according to Josephus, died a short time before Jacob's re

turn;

turn; so, as her deceit had occasioned his journey, she too was punished, by not living to enjoy its prosperous conclusion.

But of this family, so loved, so favored, by the Almighty, it is melancholy, in pursuing the story, to see the depravity. From one of them, the Messiah was certainly to proceed, and we might naturally imagine, that it would be either from the eldest, or from the most virtuous. But God seeth not as man seeth. Of Joseph only and Benjamin, the two youngest, is no evil recorded. The character of all the rest, is stained with murder, rapine, violence, or incest. When Jacob lay on his death-bed, at age of 147 years, he called for his sons, gave to each of them a separate blessas it is called, which was to some of

the

and

ing *

* In this blessing of the sons of Jacob, it is remarkable, that it relates to the personal conduct, or qualities of some of them, and to the future circumstances of the descendants of the others. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Joseph, are examples of the first, and Judah of both. The blessings of all the rest, so far as we know, refer only to the state of their posterity.