CHAPTER XXVII1.

Sacred-Texts Christianity   

p. 45

OF THE BLESSINGS OF ISAAC².

   JACOB was seventy-seven years old when his father Isaac blessed him; and he stole the blessings and birthright from his brother Esau, and fled from before his brother to Harrân. On the first night Jacob saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending, and the Power of God upon the top thereof. And he woke and said, 'This is the house of the Lord.' He took the stone that was under his head, and set it up for an altar; and he vowed a vow to God. Now the ladder was a type of Christ's crucifixion; the angels that were ascending and descending were a type of the angels who announced the glad tidings to the shepherds on the day of our Saviour's birth. The Power of God which was upon the top of the ladder was (a type of) the manifestation of God the Word in pure flesh of the formation of Adam. The place in which the vision appeared was a type of the church; the stone under his head, which he set up for an altar, was a type of the altar; and the oil which he poured out upon it was like the holy oil wherewith they anoint the altar.

   And Jacob went to Laban the Aramean, his mother's brother, and served before him as a shepherd for fourteen years. And he took his two daughters to wife; Leah with her handmaid Zilpah, and Rachel with her handmaid Bilhah. Now he loved Rachel more than Leah, because she was the younger and was fair in aspect, while Leah had watery eyes. There were born to Jacob by Leah six sons: Rûbîl (Reuben), which is interpreted 'Great is God' (now Jacob was eighty-four years old at that time); Simeon, which is interpreted 'the Obedient;' Levi, that is 'the Perfect;' Judah, that is 'Praise;' Issachar, that is 'Hope is near;' and Zebulun, that is 'Gift' or 'Dwelling-place.' Two sons were born to him by Rachel: Joseph, that is 'Addition;' and Benjamin, that is 'Consolation.' By Zilpah two sons were born to him: p. 46 Gad, that is 'Luck;' and Asher, that is 'Praise.' By Bilhah two sons were born to him: Dan, that is 'Judgment;' and Naphtali, that is 'Heartener¹;' and one daughter, whose name was Dinah². After twenty years Jacob returned to Isaac; and Isaac lived one hundred and eighty years³. Twenty-three years after Jacob went up to his father, Joseph was sold by his brethren to the Midianites for twenty dînârs⁴. When Isaac died, Jacob was one hundred and twenty years old.

Footnotes

p. 45

¹ In the Oxford MS. chap. xxx.

² Gen. xxvii.

p. 46

¹ The Oxford MS. omits to explain the meanings of the names of Jacob's sons.

² Dinah was the daughter of Leah, Gen. xxx. 21.

³ The Oxford MS. gives 108 years.

⁴ The Oxford MS adds that Jacob and Esau buried their father in the 'double cave.'