Isaac, however, had lost his sight—indeed, all his senses were dull and feeble. It was there fore not very difficult to pass off Jacob upon him as Esau. Rebekah takes her measures, and, not withstanding Jacob's fears, succeeds. Isaac. in deed. is not without suspicion, but a falsehood comes to aid Jacob in his otherwise discreditable personation of Esau. The blessing is pronounced, and thus the coveted property and ascendency are secured. The affectionate endearments which pass between the deceiver and the abused old blind father stand in painful contrast with the base trickery by which mother and son had ac complished their end.
Esau, however, returns from the field, ap proaches his decrepit and sightless father, de claring who he is. 'And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is• he that hath taken venison and brought it me. and I have eaten of all before thou earnest, and have blessed him?—yea, and he shall be blessed.' On this Esau becomes agitated, and entreats a bless ing for himself—'Bless me, even me also, 0 my father.' Urging this entreaty again and again, even with tears, Isaac at length said unto him, 'Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother, and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck' (Gen. xxvii).
Thus deprived forever of his birthright, in virtue of the irrevocable blessing, Esau but too naturally conceived and entertained a hatred of Jacob, and even formed a resolution to seize the opportunity for slaying him, which the days of mourning consequent on the approaching de cease of their father would be likely to afford. NVords to this effect, which Esau let drop, were repeated to his mother, who thereupon prevailed on her younger son to flee to his uncle Laban, who lived in Haran, there to remain until time, with its usual effect, might have mitigated Esau's wrath.
(4) Reconciled to Jacob. Meanwhile Esau had grown powerful in Idurbxa and when. alter many years, Jacob intended to return within the borders of the Jordan, he feared lest his elder brother might intercept him on his way, to take revenge for former injuries. He accordingly sent messengers to Esau in order, if possible, to disarm 'Iis wrath. Esau appears to have announced in reply that he would proceed to meet his return ing brother. When, therefore, Jacob was in formed that Esau was on his way for this pur pose with a band of four hundred men, he was greatly distressed, in fear of that hostility which his conscience told him he had done something to deserve. NVhat, then, must have been his sur prise when he saw Esau running with extended arms to greet and embrace him? and Esau 'fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.' Jacob had prepared a present for Esau, hoping thus to conciliate his favor, but Esau at first cour teously refused the gift—') have enough, my brother, keep that thou hast unto thyself' (Gen. xxxiii).
The whole of this rencountcr serves to show that if Jacob had acquired riches, Esau had gained power and influence as well as property, and the homage which is paid to him indirectly, and by implication, on the part of Jacob, and directly, and in the most marked and respectful manner, by the females and children of Jacob's family, leads to the supposition that be had made himself supreme in the surrounding country of idinwea.
(5) Later Events. Esau from this time ap pears but very little in the sacred narrative. lie was ready to accompany Jacob, or to send with him an escort, probably for protection, but Jacob's fears and suspicions induced him to decline these friendly offers, and they separated on the same day that they met, after an interview in which Jacob's bearing is rather that of an inferior to his lord than that of a brother, and Esau's has all the generousness which a high nature feels in forgiving an injury and aiming to do good to the injurer. The latter, we arc merely told, 're
turned on his way to Scir' xxxiii :to).
Jacob and Esau appear together again at the funeral rites which were paid to their deceased father, but the book of Genesis furnishes no par ticulars of what took place.
Esau is once more presented to us (Gen. xxxvi ) in a genealogical table, in which a long line of illustrious descendants is referred to 'Esau, the father of the Edomites' (Gen. xxxvi :43).
3. Character. Esau, with his wild Arab na ture, was in this respect a true child of his age. He has the virtues, but also the defects, of his time and race. The strong, sinewy son of the desert, with its boundless horizons and lawless freedom, his rough and hairy manhood marks splendid physical vigor, which urges to excite ment and adventure. The old nomadic instincts of his race had come back in him in all their force. Restless, impulsive and fearless, he delighted to roam the wilderness free as the air or the bird, far from the restraints and tameness of settled habitations. Like a true Arab, he hated the dull pursuits of industry, and turned to his spear and bow as alone worthy a man's regard. Light hearted as a child, he was as careless of the fu ture. With no self-control or manly thoughtful ness, the enjoyment of the day was more to him than the greatest piomises, for the realiza tion of which he must wait. His bounding health and animal spirits engrossed him, and he found his delight only in their gratification.
With all this, he had in him the making of a splendid man, for it must have been long a ques tion whether his restless, unsettled ways were not the mere effervescence of youth ; and he showed the elements of a character that would have adorned home had he once sobered into a quiet life. He was free-handed and generous, frank and hone,t, kindly and forgiving. If he was not devoted to his mother, lie could hardly be expected to be so when there was no warmth shown to attract him, but he worshiped his father, who paid him with kind words and looks, and he thought no toil too great to minister to his hap piness (Gen. xxv :28; xxvii :t).
There was a radical defect, however, in his character that spoiled all and left nothing from the promise of the youth but a disappointing and ulfruitful manhood. Life could not be so light aid thoughtless as he made it, and ripen to any thing worthy. Ile had no deeper and more sober nature to steady him as he grew older ; no set tled habits of honest toil ; no fixed religious prin ciple; no reverence for the future and unseen. and thus had nothing on which his better nature 'night fall back when the heyday of animal spirits and mere physical enjoyment were over. Brought up at the feet of Isaac, he might have learned to fear God, and live before Him, from his father's example, even if he noted the blemishes with which religiousness was stained in the persons of his mother and his brother. But he had no seri ousness in his nature, and lived only for excite ment and pleasure. Indifferent to the godliness of his father's home in his youth and earlier manhood, he passed, in his later years, into the chieftain of a warlike tribe, a stranger at once to the religion and traditions of his forefathers, and the bitter enemy of the "people of God" in later generations. (Geike, O. T. Characters.)