Part 2

So a trusty old servant was sent into Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac,--a woman who should be beautiful and good, and whose faith was like that of Abraham.

REBEKAH.

His house she enters, there to be a light, Shining within, when all without is right.

It was just upon the edge of the village, and just as the sun was sinking, that the servant came to the well from which the village folk drew water. And there, with a pitcher in her hand, stood a maiden, as beautiful as ever maiden could be.

"Whose daughter art thou?" the servant asked.

And the maiden answered, "I am Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, of the house of Abraham."

Then the servant was glad; for he knew now that the maiden was as good, and her religion as pure, as she was beautiful. So he went to the home of Bethuel, and told his errand into Mesopotamia. He told Bethuel of the godly life Abraham had led, and of the noble youth, Isaac. And he asked that he might choose Rebekah for Isaac's wife and carry her back with him to Canaan.

The heart of Bethuel was glad; and Rebekah, too, was glad to go; for already she loved the brave lad, Isaac, so proudly had the old servant told the story of his brave deeds and godly life.

So Rebekah, arrayed in a fine raiment, was placed on a camel, and beside her walked her nurse and maids.

The old servant then hurried on, and reached the home of Isaac while yet the maiden and her companions were not beyond the limits of their own land.

He told Isaac all that had happened, and how beautiful and good the maiden was, and that she was of the noble house of Bethuel.

Then Isaac loved the maiden; and, as she came near to Canaan, he hurried forth to meet her, and to bring her to his home and to his people. Old Abraham was glad when he saw the maiden, for he knew God's blessing would rest upon the union.

Abraham was now one hundred and seventy-five years of age; and when he came to die, Rebekah and Isaac laid him beside Sarah in the field of Machpelar, and Isaac took his father's place in the household.

Isaac and Rebekah lived to an old age. They were good people, and the Lord blessed them; and when they came to die, their two sons, Esau and Jacob, wept over them, and laid them, also, beside Abraham in the field of Machpelar.

JACOB AND ESAU.

We barter life for pottage; sell true bliss For wealth or power, for pleasure or renown; Thus, Esau like, our Father's blessing miss, Then wash with fruitless tears our faded crown.

--_Keble._

Esau was the older son, and to him belonged the honors of the family. It was his duty, too, to offer sacrifices and serve as the high priest in the home; for such was the custom of the times.

But Esau cared little either for honor or religious services. And so, one day when he came home from the hunt, hungry and thirsty, he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of pottage that Jacob sat eating before the door of his home.

Now, Isaac loved this son better than he loved Jacob, and was grieved and disappointed that he should have sold his birthright so foolishly; for now to Jacob rather than to Esau would fall the blessings of God.

But it could not now be helped, and Jacob took up the office of high priest in the house of Isaac.

As Isaac grew old, to him was given the gift of prophecy; and whomsoever he blessed, honor and prosperity was sure to follow. When Rebekah knew this, her heart was filled with but one desire,--that Isaac's blessing should fall upon Jacob rather than upon Esau; for she knew how unworthy Esau was in spirit, and how little he would strive to honor God when the household became his own.

So, one day when Esau was away upon the hunt, she called Jacob to her and bade him go kneel beside his old father and ask his blessing.

But Jacob said, "Behold, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man and I a smooth man. My father, perhaps, will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver."

Rebekah said, "Obey my voice, my son." And Jacob yielded.

Then Rebekah took some clothes belonging to Esau and put them upon Jacob; and she put the skin of the kids that he had brought her upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck.

Then Jacob knelt before his father, whose eyes were dimmed with old age, and said, "Bless me, my father."

And Isaac said, "Who art thou, my son?"

And Jacob said, "I am Esau, thy first born."

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near, that I may feel whether thou be my very son Esau or not."

So Jacob went near to his father, and the father felt of him; and he said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."

Then Isaac, thinking it was Esau who knelt, blessed him as his first-born, and said, "The Lord bless thee, and give thee plenty of corn and wine. Let the people serve thee; and be thou lord over all thy brethren."

And all this came to pass; for Jacob's children came into possession of the rich land of Canaan.

By and by, Esau entered the tent and knelt beside his father. "Thy blessing, O father Isaac," he said.

The old man stretched out his hands. "Who art thou?" he cried.

"I am Esau, your first-born. Know you not that I am Esau?"

"Who was it then that came just now and received my blessing?" Isaac asked.

Then Esau knew that to him was lost the blessing as an eldest son.

The old man wailed. "Alas! alas! my son," he said, "much wealth can I yet bestow upon thee; still the greater honors are now with Jacob."

Now Esau's heart was filled with rage. He would have slain his brother; but Rebekah, knowing this, sent Jacob away.

When night came on Jacob lay down upon the cold ground and placed a stone beneath his head. And as he slept God sent a beautiful vision to bless him.

He saw a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to Heaven. Holy angels were going up and down the ladder, and, above them all, stood God.

And a voice said, "I am the God of Abraham and of Jacob. I will give the land where thou liest to be a possession to thy children. I am with thee and will keep thee in all thy places, and bring thee again into thy land."

Then Jacob awoke. "This is God's place," he said, "and I knew it not. This is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven."

Then he took a stone and poured oil upon it and blessed it. "This place shall be called Bethel," he said; "Bethel, which means the House of God, for here God appeared unto me."

From Bethel Jacob went on to the land of his uncle Laban; and there he dwelt for many years, keeping the sheep.

But the time came when Laban looked with jealousy upon Jacob. The Lord came again to Jacob and bade him take his wife, Rachael, and his children and go back to Canaan. Jacob obeyed, and, driving his great flocks before him, he set out again for his old home.

As he neared the village of Seir, where Esau dwelt, he sent messengers ahead to tell Esau that he was returning, and to beg him to forgive the past that they might meet each other in brotherly love.

The servants came back and told him that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men. Then Jacob was in great fear, for he thought Esau meant to kill him.

He prayed to God to keep him safe. At night an angel came and wrestled with him till break of day, but could not overcome him. And when morn came, the angel said, "Let me go, for it is break of day." Jacob said, "I will not let thee go till thou bless me." Then the angel blessed him, and he saw him no more. This was a sign from God to Jacob that, as he was a match for an angel, he need not fear men.

He took some of his cattle and sent them as a gift to Esau. He set them in droves, so that when Esau met them, and asked whose they were, the men should say, "They are Jacob's. It is a gift he has sent to my lord Esau." Each man who drove the cattle was to answer in this way, so that Esau might feel that Jacob had come as a friend.

All at once Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming. Then he called his eleven sons and Rachel and Leah to go with him and meet Esau.

When he met Esau he bowed down to the ground seven times. Then Esau ran to him and put his arms round his neck and kissed him, and they both wept.

Esau led Jacob to his home and there feasted him for seven days. And when he was rested Jacob set forth again, driving his herds before him, to make a home for his people in the land of Canaan; for he was an old man now, and wished only to rest in the land of his fathers, and to see his twelve sons comfortably placed in homes of their own, with their wives, their children, and their flocks about them. JOSEPH.

"Now let us thank the Eternal Power; convinced That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction, That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour Serves but to brighten all our future days."

Jacob had twelve sons; but the one dearest to the old father's heart was Joseph, a lad of only seventeen years when Jacob came back into the land of Canaan.

The older of these sons were selfish, cruel men; and more than that, they had forsaken the God of Abraham, and were worshipping graven images. Poor old Jacob's heart was heavy!

"Go now to Bethel," said a voice to him one night in a dream. "Make an altar there to thy God."

Jacob obeyed; and when the altar was built, he called his sons together and told them the visions he had had. He told them the stronghold God had always been to him in his life, and begged them to forsake their idols and turn again to the true God.

Then Jacob went on to Hebron, where Abraham had lived, and where Isaac still lived, an old, old man, nearly two hundred years old.

It was a joyous meeting--this meeting between Isaac and Jacob. Esau, too, came, and Isaac blessed them both and bade them love each other. Isaac died very soon after, and Jacob, an old man now himself, sat in the door of the tent of his fathers.

To Joseph, Jacob had given a coat of many colors, as a token of his great love for him. And because of this Joseph's brothers hated him only the more. Jealousy burned in their hearts, and they plotted together to slay the boy.

One night Joseph had a vision. In the dream eleven stars came and stood before him and bowed themselves to the ground. And a voice said, "So shall your brothers one day bow before you."

Joseph told his vision to Jacob and to his brothers. The father observed the sayings, but the brothers were made only the more angry.

Now, his brothers spent their days upon the hillside tending their flocks. And one day Jacob said to Joseph, "Go, my son, and see if any evil has befallen your brothers."

So Joseph set out. It was a long way to the pasture lands, and the boy was tired and footsore. And when he reached the place no sign could he find of his brothers.

"Tell me," asked Joseph of the men upon the plains, "where are my brothers that watch their sheep here upon these hillsides?"

The men answered, saying, "Your brothers have gone to the place called Dothan, which is many miles from here."

Then Joseph, after resting, started on towards Dothan. There his brothers saw him, and recognized him afar off by the bright colors of his coat.

"Here comes our dreamer," sneered one brother.

"He who shall reign over us," sneered another.

Then the face of the oldest brother grew black and bitter. "Let us kill him," he said, "and cast him into some pit."

"No," said Rueben, "we need not stain our hands with his blood. Let us only cast him into the pit, and then tell our father Jacob that a wild beast has slain him."

This plan seemed most pleasing to them; and when Joseph came near, they fell upon him, tore his coat from him, and made ready to throw him into a pit.

But just then there came along the highway a company of merchants, bound for Egypt. They had a long train of camels, and these were loaded with fruits and spices.

"Let us sell Joseph to these merchants," said one of the brothers. And when the merchants came up, they pushed Joseph towards them and sold him for twenty pieces of silver.

Then they killed a kid, and dipped the coat in the kid's blood, and went back with it to Jacob.

"O father Jacob! This coat have we found by the wayside, and we know not whether it be the coat of Joseph or not!"

The old father looked at the coat. He saw the blood upon it; then he bowed his head and groaned. Too well did he know it to be the coat of his dear son, Joseph.

All day long the old man wept, refusing to be comforted. "I will go down into my grave unto my son mourning," he said. But the sons cared not for his grief. It was enough that they were rid of the brother whom they hated.

PHARAOH'S DREAM.

Poor Joseph was carried into Egypt, and there sold again to a rich man, whose name was Potiphar. Potiphar was very proud of his new slave, so tall and strong and beautiful was he; and for a time Joseph dwelt most happily in his new home. But Potiphar's wife was a bad woman. And because he refused, at her desire, to do evil, she had him thrown into prison; and to Potiphar she told such stories about the boy that for a time Potiphar himself was deceived, and so permitted Joseph to be in prison, giving him no opportunity to prove to his master how untrue these stories were.

Now, in prison with Joseph were servants of King Pharaoh. One morning, when Joseph went to them, they were downcast and sad.

"Why look ye so sad?" said Joseph.

"We have dreamed dreams, and we have no one to interpret them," they said.

"It is God who sends dreams," said Joseph. "Tell them to me. It may be I can interpret them for you."

Then one of the servants told his dream. "I saw in my dream a vine; and in the vine were three branches. They budded, the flowers came, the fruit ripened. Then I took Pharaoh's cup, gathered the grapes and pressed them in the cup, and gave it to Pharaoh."

"Take courage, my brother," said Joseph, "for it is a good dream. The three branches are three days. The dream means that in three days Pharaoh will liberate thee, and thou shalt give the cup into his hands.

"And do not forget me when thou art again free. For I have been sold into bondage and stolen away from Canaan. Neither have I deserved to be thrown into this dungeon. Speak then to Pharaoh for me, and beg him to free me from this prison."

Then the other servant told his dream: "I had three baskets of meat upon my head. They were baked meats for Pharaoh. The birds came and ate the meat from the baskets."

"Alas!" said Joseph, "the meaning of thy dream is this: In three days Pharaoh shall hang thee upon a tree; and the birds shall come and eat thee."

Now, as it proved, Joseph had interpreted the dreams aright; for the power of vision had been with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob before him.

But the servant who went back into Pharaoh's home forgot Joseph when once he was free himself; and so for two long years Joseph lay in prison.

Then Pharaoh himself had two strange dreams, and no one in the land could interpret them. Then the old servant, remembering how Joseph interpreted his dream for him so long before, told Pharaoh of him; and Pharaoh at once freed him from prison and bade him come before him to interpret his dreams.

"I dreamed," said Pharaoh, "that I stood beside a river. Seven fat kine came out from it and fed in the meadow. Soon seven more came out, thin and bad. Then the seven lean kine ate up the seven fat kine.

"Then I awoke. But when I slept again, I dreamed that seven good ears of corn came out upon one stem. And soon after, seven more, thin and bad. And the seven bad ears ate up the seven good ears."

"The dreams, great king," said Joseph, "mean this: There shall be seven years of great fruitfulness in the land. Then shall come seven years of famine. And the seven years of famine shall eat up all the fruitfulness of the first seven years.

"Now let Pharaoh take warning. Let him hoard up all the corn that can be spared in these first seven years. Then, when the years of famine come, there will be corn for all who dwell in the land."

Pharaoh was pleased with the wisdom of Joseph. He appointed him at once to have charge over the corn, and commanded the people to obey him in all that he bade them do. Then the king gave him a ring and a chain of gold to wear upon his neck. He dressed him in fine linen and made him a golden chariot. And the people loved Joseph and obeyed him.

Then followed seven years of fruitfulness, such as even the fertile valley of Egypt had never known before; and the people hoarded their corn until their store houses were full to bursting.

And when every house was full, then began the drought and famine; and no food grew for the people in all the seven years that followed. Great indeed might have been the suffering; for no rain came, no corn grew, and everywhere the people were crying to Joseph for food.

And the famine spread even into the country of Canaan; and Joseph's own people were starving.

JOSEPH'S BROTHERS.

The brothers of Joseph heard that in Egypt there was corn stored away in plenty; so they went down into Egypt to beg for it.

They came before Joseph, and bowed low before him, even as in the vision so long ago it had been foretold that they would bow before him.

"Who are you?" said Joseph; for he wished to try his brothers and see if they would speak the truth.

"We are the sons of Jacob," said they; "and we are come from the land of Canaan."

"Have you any other brothers?" asked Joseph.

"We have one younger brother at home," they said.

"How do I know if you speak truly? Go to your homes--I will give you corn--and bring to me your youngest brother. Meanwhile I will hold one of you here as prisoner until you return. Then shall I know if you are honest men."

So the nine brothers went back to Canaan and told Jacob what had happened; but they did not know it was Joseph they had seen.

And when they told Jacob what the man in Egypt had said, and that Simeon had been left a prisoner, the old father lifted up his voice and wept. "Never," said he, "shall ye carry Benjamin into Egypt. Joseph ye have lost to me, and now Simeon! And if mischief befall Benjamin by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave."

But when all the corn was eaten and there was no more food, Jacob was obliged to send Benjamin into Egypt with his brothers; for they dared not go without him.

Joseph saw them coming, and his heart was glad when he saw his brother Benjamin with them.

So he spoke to his servants and bade them make ready a feast for the ten men who had come from Canaan. Simeon he freed from prison, and all were received into his own home.

They came into the banquet hall, and again they all bowed low before Joseph, as in the dream it had been prophesied they should do.

"Is thy father well?" Joseph asked of his brothers.

And the brothers answered, "Jacob is well."

Then the tears came into the eyes of Joseph, and he looked with tenderness upon them all. But they knew him not. And in the morning of the next day they set out again for Canaan, their bags filled with corn.

But when they were departing, Joseph said to his steward, "Put my silver cup into the sack of the youngest; and when they are well out upon the road, overtake them, make a pretence of searching them for it, and bring back him in whose sack you find the cup."

The servant did as he was bid; and Benjamin, in whose sack, of course, the cup was found, was brought back to Joseph. Ashamed, the other brothers too came back and fell at Joseph's feet.

"Weep not," said Joseph. "Do you not know me? I am your brother Joseph, whom, so many years ago, you did sell into bondage."

Then the oldest brother fell upon his face before Joseph; and Benjamin fell upon his neck and wept tears of joy.

"Go back now to Canaan. Take with you wagons and horses. Tell my father that I am rich and happy; that I am governor over the province; and that I send these wagons to bear him to me, that I may look once more upon his face."

Great was the rejoicing in Canaan when the sons brought the good tidings from Joseph. And straightway Jacob and all his family set forth for the land of Egypt.

Eagerly the old father pressed forward to meet his son. And when Joseph saw him afar off, he rode out in his own chariot to meet him. They fell upon each other's necks and kissed each other; and Jacob lifted his face in prayer to God, who had permitted him to see again the son he loved.

Then Joseph led them to his own palace, and a great feast was held.

For seventeen years Jacob dwelt in Egypt with his children, and most happy were they, now all together once more.

But Jacob was now one hundred and forty-seven years old; and when he knew his end was near, he called his twelve sons to him and blessed them all. He told them many wonderful things which sometime would come to them; and when he had finished prophesying, he kissed them all, then lay back upon his bed and died. For seven days they mourned for him; and then they carried him to Canaan and buried him in the field of Macphelar.

Joseph returned to Egypt, where he lived a long and happy life; and when he died, he too, we trust, was carried back and laid in the burial-place of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

THE STORY OF MOSES.

Gently slumber'd on the wave The new-born seer of old, Ordained the chosen tribes to save; Nor deem'd how darkly roll'd The waters by his rushy bark, Perchance e'en now defiled With infant's blood for Israel's sake, Blood of some priestly child.

What recks he of his mother's tears, His sister's boding sigh? The whispering reeds are all he hears, And Nile, soft weltering nigh, Sings him to sleep, but he will wake, And o'er the haughty flood Wave his stern rod; and lo! a lake, A restless sea of blood!

Joseph had been dead now many, many years. Pharaoh too had died, and a new Pharaoh was on the throne.

And all these years the children of the twelve brothers had grown up and passed away. Many children had been born to them; and these too had grown up and passed away, leaving their children now in the land of Egypt.

The children of the twelve brothers had been called Israelites, because to Jacob had been given the name Israel. From out the clouds had God spoken to him and said, "Thou shalt henceforth be called Israel."

Now, the Israelites had always been a people apart from the Egyptians. They had kept the faith of their fathers in the midst of the idolatry of the land in which they lived.

The new Pharaoh hated these Israelites and made slaves of them. He gave them all manner of hard work to do; and at one time ordered them, on penalty of their lives, to make for him bricks without straw.

At another time he sent out his soldiers, and bade them slay every little Israelitish boy in the land, that thus the race might be exterminated.

But this was not to be. For, you remember, it was prophesied away back in the days of Abraham, that, though the Israelites should go out from their land and live for 400 years, yet again the time would come when they should return to Canaan, the land the Lord had blessed to them.

Now, at the time Pharaoh sent out the cruel command, there was among the Israelites one mother, of the family of Levi, who had a beautiful little baby boy.

"My baby shall not be slain," she said. So she took him down to the river, made a little basket, placed him in it, and hid him in the bulrushes.

Every day, and many times a day, she went down to see that he was comfortable and to carry him food.