271 Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I. 2 And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time: 3 So take your arrows and your bow and go out to the field and get meat for me; 4 And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me. 5 Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat.
6 And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing, 7 Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death. 8 Now, my son, do what I say. 9 Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste: 10 And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth: 12 If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing. 13 And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me. 14 So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste. 15 And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son: 16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck: 17 And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready.
18 And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son? 19 And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing. 20 And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way. 21 And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23 And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing. 24 And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am. 25 And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink. 26 And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss. 27 And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come: 28 May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure: 29 Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.
30 And when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field. 31 And he made ready a meal, good to the taste, and took it to his father, and said to him, Let my father get up and take of his son's meat, so that you may give me a blessing. 32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your oldest son, Esau. 33 And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be? 34 And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father! 35 And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing. 36 And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me? 37 And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son? 38 And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping. 39 Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be: 40 By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.
41 So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death. 42 Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death. 43 So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban; 44 And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away; 45 Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day? 46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?
281 Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; 2 But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3 And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples. 4 And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage. 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away: and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan-aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan; 7 And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram; 8 It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan, 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
10 So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran. 11 And coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head he went to sleep in that place. 12 And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. 13 And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping. 14 Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth. 15 And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land; and I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you.
16 And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it. 17 And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven. 18 And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. 19 And he gave that place the name of Beth-el, but before that time the town was named Luz. 20 Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on, 21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God, 22 And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.
18 Now when Jesus saw a great mass of people about him, he gave an order to go to the other side. 19 And there came a scribe and said to him, Master, I will come after you wherever you go. 20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head. 21 And another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father. 22 But Jesus said to him, Come after me; and let the dead take care of their dead.
23 And when he had got into a boat, his disciples went after him. 24 And there came up a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was sleeping. 25 And they came to him, and, awaking him, said, Help, Lord; destruction is near. 26 And he said to them, Why are you full of fear, O you of little faith? Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 And the men were full of wonder, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea do his orders?
28 And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, there came out to him from the place of the dead, two who had evil spirits, so violent that no man was able to go that way. 29 And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time? 30 Now there was, some distance away, a great herd of pigs taking their food. 31 And the evil spirits made strong prayers to him, saying, If you send us out, let us go into the herd of pigs. 32 And he said to them, Go. And they came out, and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea and came to their end in the water. 33 And their keepers went in flight to the town and gave an account of everything, and of the men who had the evil spirits. 34 And all the town came out to Jesus; and seeing him they made request that he would go away from their part of the country.
(Read Matthew 8:18-22)
One of the scribes was too hasty in promising; he proffers himself to be a close follower of Christ. He seems to be very resolute. Many resolutions for religion are produced by sudden conviction, and taken up without due consideration; these come to nothing. When this scribe offered to follow Christ, one would think he should have been encouraged; one scribe might do more credit and service than twelve fishermen; but Christ saw his heart, and answered to its thoughts, and therein teaches all how to come to Christ. His resolve seems to have been from a worldly, covetous principle; but Christ had not a place to lay his head on, and if he follows him, he must not expect to fare better than he fared. We have reason to think this scribe went away. Another was too slow. Delay in doing is as bad on the one hand, as hastiness in resolving is on the other. He asked leave to attend his father to his grave, and then he would be at Christ's service. This seemed reasonable, yet it was not right. He had not true zeal for the work. Burying the dead, especially a dead father, is a good work, but it is not thy work at this time. If Christ requires our service, affection even for the nearest and dearest relatives, and for things otherwise our duty, must give way. An unwilling mind never wants an excuse. Jesus said to him, Follow me; and, no doubt, power went with this word to him as to others; he did follow Christ, and cleaved to him. The scribe said, I will follow thee; to this man Christ said, Follow me; comparing them together, it shows that we are brought to Christ by the force of his call to us, Romans 9:16.
(Read Matthew 8:23-27)
It is a comfort to those who go down to the sea in ships, and are often in perils there, to reflect that they have a Saviour to trust in and pray to, who knows what it is to be on the water, and to be in storms there. Those who are passing with Christ over the ocean of this world, must expect storms. His human nature, like to ours in every thing but sin, was wearied, and he slept at this time to try the faith of his disciples. They, in their fear, came to their Master. Thus is it in a soul; when lusts and temptations are swelling and raging, and God is, as it were, asleep to it, this brings it to the brink of despair. Then it cries for a word from his mouth, Lord Jesus, keep not silence to me, or I am undone. Many that have true faith, are weak in it. Christ's disciples are apt to be disquieted with fears in a stormy day; to torment themselves that things are bad with them, and with dismal thoughts that they will be worse. Great storms of doubt and fear in the soul, under the power of the spirit of bondage, sometimes end in a wonderful calm, created and spoken by the Spirit of adoption. They were astonished. They never saw a storm so turned at once into a perfect calm. He that can do this, can do any thing, which encourages confidence and comfort in him, in the most stormy day, within or without, Isaiah 26:4.
(Read Matthew 8:28-34)
The devils have nothing to do with Christ as a Saviour; they neither have, nor hope for any benefit from him. Oh the depth of this mystery of Divine love; that fallen man has so much to do with Christ, when fallen angels have nothing to do with him! Hebrews 2:16. Surely here was torment, to be forced to own the excellence that is in Christ, and yet they had no part in him. The devils desire not to have any thing to do with Christ as a Ruler. See whose language those speak, who will have nothing to do with the gospel of Christ. But it is not true that the devils have nothing to do with Christ as a Judge; for they have, and they know it, and thus it is with all the children of men. Satan and his instruments can go no further than he permits; they must quit possession when he commands. They cannot break his hedge of protection about his people; they cannot enter even a swine without his leave. They had leave. God often, for wise and holy ends, permits the efforts of Satan's rage. Thus the devil hurries people to sin; hurries them to what they have resolved against, which they know will be shame and grief to them: miserable is the condition of those who are led captive by him at his will. There are a great many who prefer their swine before the Saviour, and so come short of Christ and salvation by him. They desire Christ to depart out of their hearts, and will not suffer his word to have place in them, because he and his word would destroy their brutish lusts, those swine which they give themselves up to feed. And justly will Christ forsake all that are weary of him; and say hereafter, Depart, ye cursed, to those who now say to the Almighty, Depart from us.
