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which God’s training later purified him. —Lange. A cunning shunter. This indi cates that he is a typical character of those who are wholly given over to the pursuits and pastimes of the pleasures of this evil age.^Marsh. v. 28. Isaac loved Esau. Esau’s gen erous, warm-hearted spirit attracts sym pathy at first sight when contrasted with the wiles of the cold and calculat ing Jacob, but judged by a higher standard, Esau appears plainly as a worldly, irreligious man, uninterested in the divine covenant. His character is summed up in Heb.12:16-17— Dum- melow. v. 30. His name called Edom. Esau becomes Edom and therefore still the more remains Esau merely. Jacob on the, other hand becomes Israel (32:28). Jacob is the man of hope.— Tuch. v. 31. Sell me thy birthright. The birthright was Esau’s by providence but Jacob’s by promise. He is to be com mended that he coveted earnestly the best gifts, yet in this he cannot be justi fied, that he took advantage of his brother’s necessity to make a hard bar gain. It may be Esau had sometimes spoken slightingly of the birthright which encouraged Jacob to make this proposal.—Henry. The right of the first born consisted in headship over the brothers or tribe (27:29), and later also in a double portion of the inheri tance of the father, also the right of priesthood.— Lange. It must be borne in mind that Jacob laid no necessity upon Esau; he leaves him to accent or reject his proposal;—Schaff. Jacob’s ungenerous negotiation increases to fraud, thence his subsequent suffer ings and atonement. The bloody coat of many colors sent to him by his sons reminded him of Esau’s coat in which he approached his father. For Jacob’s opinion concerning the sufferings of his life, see 47:9.— Lange. Craftiness and subtility, even meanness and deceit, marked many of Jacob’s actions. Long years of suffering and discipline were
right path. ‘Rube’ and ‘Bugs’ are dead. Does it pay?” It Pottsville, Pa., a hoisting engineer drank two be^rs and two whiskies and caused the death of six miners by crushing them. Wm. Penn was right when he said, “ The smaller the drink the clearer the head and the cooler the blood, which are great benefits in temper and business.” Here are some of the posters put up by Business men and Corporations: “ You can’t drink and make good.” “ Modern business sets pace too fast for drinking man’s mind to keep up— he is not in the ring.” The Athol Machine Company heads one remarkable poster, “ Rum Raises Hell” and we add, Rum sends many there. The young man who drinks can never rise very high. He will be like the eagle that escaped from a burning menagerie building. Up out of the smoke and fire soared the eagle with a scream. But before it could get outside of the circle of fire and smoke it was pulled down by a snake that had entwined itself around the eagle’s leg. The snake robbed the eagle of its power and it fell in the flames. The serpent of RUM pulls down every time. Gen. 25:27. And the boys grew. They were twins and Esau came into the world a very short time before Jacob, but that very short time was long enough to make the COMMENT birthright Esau’s ac- FROM MANY cording to custom.-r- SOURCES Torrey. Esau was not a man who had long ings for the future, and therefore could not be a patriarch among the people of the future (Mai. 1:3;. Heb. 12:17). Jacob was different. He knew how to prize the promises in spite of those faults and weaknesses and crafts from “ The last man hired The first man fired. The man who drinks.” -
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