271 And it came to pass when Isaac had become old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, that he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son! And he said to him, Here am I. 2 And he said, Behold now, I am become old; I know not the day of my death. 3 And now, I pray thee, take thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and hunt me venison, 4 and prepare me a savoury dish such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, in order that my soul may bless thee before I die. 5 And Rebecca heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt venison, to bring it.
6 And Rebecca spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak to Esau thy brother, saying, 7 Bring me venison, and prepare me a savoury dish, that I may eat, and bless thee before Jehovah, before my death. 8 And now, my son, hearken to my voice in that which I command thee. 9 Go, I pray thee, to the flock, and fetch me thence two good kids of the goats. And I will make of them a savoury dish for thy father, such as he loves. 10 And thou shalt bring [it] to thy father, that he may eat, in order that he may bless thee before his death. 11 And Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 My father perhaps will feel me, and I shall be in his sight as one who mocks [him], and I shall bring a curse on me, and not a blessing. 13 And his mother said to him, On me [be] thy curse, my son! Only hearken to my voice, and go, fetch [them]. 14 And he went, and fetched and brought [them] to his mother. And his mother prepared a savoury dish such as his father loved. 15 And Rebecca took the clothes of her elder son Esau, the costly ones which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son; 16 and she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands, and on the smooth of his neck; 17 and she gave the savoury dishes and the bread that she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 And he came to his father, and said, My father! And he said, Here am I: who art thou, my son? 19 And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. I have done according as thou didst say to me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, in order that thy soul may bless me. 20 And Isaac said to his son, How is it that thou hast found [it] so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Jehovah thy God put [it] in my way. 21 And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be really my son Esau or not. 22 And Jacob drew near to Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 23 And he did not discern him, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands; and he blessed him. 24 And he said, Art thou really my son Esau? And he said, It is I. 25 And he said, Bring [it] near to me, that I may eat of my son's venison, in order that my soul may bless thee. And he brought [it] near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26 And his father Isaac said to him, Come near, now, and kiss me, my son. 27 And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelt the smell of his clothes, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed. 28 And God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and new wine. 29 Let peoples serve thee, And races bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be they that curse thee, And blessed be they that bless thee.
30 And it came to pass when Isaac had ended blessing Jacob, and when Jacob was only just gone out from Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came from his hunting. 31 And he also had prepared savoury dishes, and he brought [them] in to his father, and said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's venison, in order that thy soul may bless me. 32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. 33 Then Isaac trembled with exceeding great trembling, and said, Who was he, then, that hunted venison and brought [it] to me? And I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him; also blessed he shall be. 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me—me also, my father! 35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and has taken away thy blessing. 36 And he said, Is it not therefore he was named Jacob, for he has supplanted me now twice? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? 37 And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him lord over thee, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and with corn and new wine have I supplied him—and what can I do now for thee, my son? 38 And Esau said to his father, Hast thou then but one blessing, my father? bless me—me also, my father! And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above; 40 And by thy sword shalt thou live; And thou shalt serve thy brother; And it shall come to pass when thou rovest about, That thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.
41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, and I will slay my brother Jacob. 42 And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebecca. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, comforts himself that he will kill thee. 43 And now, my son, hearken to my voice, and arise, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran; 44 and abide with him some days, until thy brother's fury turn away— 45 until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget what thou hast done to him; then I will send and fetch thee thence. Why should I be bereaved even of you both in one day? 46 And Rebecca said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good should my life do me?
281 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. 3 And the Almighty God bless thee, and make thee fruitful and multiply thee, that thou mayest become a company of peoples. 4 And may he give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, in order that thou mayest possess the land of thy sojourning, which God gave to Abraham! 5 And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan-Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebecca, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padan-Aram, to take a wife thence, blessing him, and giving him a charge saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7 and [that] Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-Aram. 8 And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the sight of Isaac his father. 9 And Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went towards Haran. 11 And he lighted on a certain place, and lodged there, because the sun had set. And he took [one] of the stones of the place, and made [it] his pillow, and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to the heavens. And behold, angels of God ascended and descended upon it. 13 And behold, Jehovah stood above it. And he said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land on which thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all [places] to which thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done what I have spoken to thee of.
16 And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew [it] not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18 And Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had made his pillow, and set it up [for] a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Beth-el; but the name of that city was Luz at the first. 20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and keep me on this road that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and a garment to put on, 21 and I come again to my father's house in peace—then shall Jehovah be my God. 22 And this stone, which I have set up [for] a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that thou wilt give me I will without fail give the tenth to thee.
18 And Jesus, seeing great crowds around him, commanded to depart to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou mayest go. 20 And Jesus says to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven roosting-places; but the Son of man has not where he may lay his head. 21 But another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me first to go away and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.
23 And he went on board ship and his disciples followed him; 24 and behold, [the water] became very agitated on the sea, so that the ship was covered by the waves; but he slept. 25 And the disciples came and awoke him, saying, Lord save: we perish. 26 And he says to them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then, having arisen, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 But the men were astonished, saying, What sort [of man] is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?
28 And there met him, when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, two possessed by demons, coming out of the tombs, exceeding dangerous, so that no one was able to pass by that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Son of God? hast thou come here before the time to torment us? 30 Now there was, a great way off from them, a herd of many swine feeding; 31 and the demons besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine. 32 And he said to them, Go. And they, going out, departed into the herd of swine; and lo, the whole herd [of swine] rushed down the steep slope into the sea, and died in the waters. 33 But they that fed them fled, and went away into the city and related everything, and what had happened as to those possessed by demons. 34 And behold, the whole city went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged [him] to go away out of their coasts.
(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.
