For differing views as to the Chronology of Jacob’s Life, see Bible Commentary, vol. 1, pp. 177-179, and Pulpit Com. Genesis, p. 383. B.

1. 1 AND Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And Jacob said when he saw 2 them, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 2. 3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field 4 of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau; Thus 5 saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now: and I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and menservants and maidservants: and I have sent to tell my 6 lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with 7 him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that was 8 with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape. 3. 9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, which 10 saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two com- 11 panies. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I 12 fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

13. And he lodged there that night; and took of that which he had with him a present for 14 Esau his brother; two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty 15 rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten 16 foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and said 17 unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, say 18 ing, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, 19 he also is behind us. And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that fol- lowed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him; and 20 ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure 21 he will accept me. So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company. 22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven 23 children, and passed over the ford of Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that he had.

Chap. 32. In the events of this chapter we find the turning point in the life of Jacob. Before, we notice halting on both sides, continual attempts at self-deliverance, artifices and cunning, weak and defective faith; afterward, we descry humility and resignation to the will of God, confidence and trust in God and in His leadings. At last the catastrophe, long preparing, takes place, by which old Jacob is to become a new man, and the wild excrescences of a richly endowed nature are to be removed. It is only now that we can understand how God had borne with all his perversity and so visibly blessed him, notwithstanding his cunning and his artifices. All this tended, through the mercy of God, to lead him to repentance. Much labor and sorrow, many trials and chastisements, and much pity and patience, were required before Jacob, so strong and wise in himself, was humbled and broken in heart. But the more glorious also was the fruit of this long and difficult training. The former stages in the life of Jacob were only preparatory to that great and striking event to which they pointed. All along it had been a struggle on the part of a clever and strong, a self-confident and self-sufficient person, who was only sure of the result when he helped himself—a contest with God, who wished to break his strength and his wisdom, in order to bestow upon him real strength and real wisdom. The life of Jacob had been a continuous struggle carried on by the patriarch with the weapons of his own strength and wisdom, and by God with the weapons of grace, of patience, and of long-suffering. This stage in his life closes with these fervent prayers, in which his oppressed heart found relief. K.

1,2. Leaving the mountains of Gilead, Jacob had entered the land of promise, in what afterward became the possession of God. A glorious prospect here opened before him. Such beauty, fruitfulness, freshness of verdure, and richness of pasturage; dark mountain forests above, and rich plains below, as poor Palestine, denuded of its trees, and with them of its moisture—a land of ruins—has not known these many, many centuries! And there, as he entered the land, “the angels of God met him.” Twenty years before they had met him, on leaving it, at Bethel, and, so to speak, accompanied him on his journey. And now in similar pledge they welcomed him on his return. Only then they had been angels ascending and descending on their ministry, while now they were “angel hosts” to defend him in the impending contest, whence also Jacob called the name of that place Mahanaim, “two hosts,” or “two camps.” And if at Bethel he had seen them in a “dream,” they now appeared to him when waking, as if to convey yet stronger assurance. A. E.

Many years before Jacob saw the mystical ladder connecting heaven and earth, and the angels of God thereupon ascending and descending from the one to the other. Now, in circumstances of danger, he sees the angels of God on earth, encamped beside or around his own camp. He recognizes them as God’s camp, and names the place Mahanaim, from the double encampment. This vision is not dwelt upon, as it is the mere sequel of the former scene at Bethel. Mahanaim has been identified with Mahneh, about eight miles from the cairn of Laban and Jacob. M.—The name was handed on to after-ages, and the place became the sanctuary of the Transjordanic tribes. He was still on the heights of the Transjordanic hills, beyond the deep defile where the Jabbok, as its name implies, “wrestles” with the mountains through which it descends to the Jordan. A. P. S.

God’s hosts now become visible to allay the fear of man’s hosts. Having just escaped one host of enemies, another is coming forth to meet him. At this juncture the heavenly messengers make their appearance, teaching him to whom he owed his late escape, and that he who had delivered did deliver, and he might safely trust would still deliver him; thus making good the previous promise (Gen. 28 : 15), “Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land.” It does not appear, indeed, that they were charged with any verbal communication, but Jacob would have no difficulty in inferring the object of their mission, to work in his mind an assurance of the overruling and protecting providence of God. Thus, too, when the vision of the fiery chariots was vouchsafed to Elisha’s servant, it was left to his own mind to draw the proper conclusion from such a cheering spectacle. Bush.

4-9. Jacob now sends a message to Esau apprising him of his arrival. Unto the land of Seir. Arabia Petrea, with which Esau became connected by his marriage with a daughter of Ishmael. He was now married fifty-six years to his first two wives, and twenty to his last, and therefore had a separate and extensive establishment of children and grandchildren. 6. Four hundred men with him. This was a formidable force. Esau had begun to live by the sword, and had surrounded himself with a numerous body of followers. Associated by marriage with the Hittitec and the Ishmaelites, he had risen to the rank of a powerful chieftain. It is vain to conjecture with what intent Esau advanced at the head of so large a retinue. It is probable that he was accustomed to a strong escort, that he wished to make an imposing appearance before his brother. 7, 8. Jacob, remembering his own former dealings with him, has good cause for alarm. He betakes himself to the means of deliverance. He disposes of his horde into two camps, that if one were attacked and captured, the other might meanwhile escape. He never neglects to take all the precautions in his power. M.

9-12. Next, he seeks help from God. This prayer is the first on record, for the intercession of Abraham for Sodom was more of a remonstrance or argument than a prayer. It does not seem that there could be a finer model for a special prayer than this,—the most ancient of all. He first claims his interest in the broad covenant with Abraham and Isaac, just as we might, and ought to, set forth our interests in the mercies covenanted to us in Christ; then he urges the covenant of personal mercies and promises; then he confesses his utter unworthiness of the blessings that have been showered upon him, yet venturing, notwithstanding, to hope for deliverance from the danger that lay before him. Kit.

The very first sentence of Jacob’s prayer has this peculiarity about it, that it is steeped in humility; for he does not address the Lord as his own God at the first, but as the God of Abraham and Isaac. The prayer itself, though it is very urgent, is as lowly as it is earnest. With all its intensity, there is a loving remembrance of who Jacob is, and who Jehovah is; and the suppliant speaks in terms fit to be used toward the thrice holy God by a man of lowly heart. Spurgeon.—Such was the humble self-denying sense he had of his own unworthiness, that he did not call God his own God, but a God in covenant with his ancestors, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac; and this he could the better plead, because the covenant, by divine designation, was entailed upon him. God’s covenant with our fathers may be a comfort to us when we are in distress. H.

He approaches God as the God of his father, and as such a God in covenant. This was laying hold of the divine faithfulness. It was the prayer of faith; and though we may not have exactly the same plea in our approaches to God, yet we have one that is more endearing and more prevalent. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a character which excites more hope and in which more great and precious promises have been made than in any other. He addresses him as his own God, pleading what he had promised to him, as well as to his fathers. “Who saidst unto me, Return,” etc. Jehovah has never made promises to us in the same extraordinary way that he did to Jacob; but, whatever he has promised to believers in general may be pleaded by every one of them in particular, especially when encountering opposition in the path of duty. Another remarkable feature in this prayer is the deep spirit of self-abasement which breathes through it. While he celebrates the great mercy and truth of God toward him, he acknowledges himself unworthy of the least instance of either. The original is, if possible, still more emphatic; “I am less than all the mercies,” etc., as if he not only disclaimed the worthiness of merit, but also that of meekness. In view of his own sinful conduct on a former occasion, he is amazed at the returns of mercy and truth which he had met with from a gracious God. By sin he had reduced himself in a manner to nothing; but God’s goodness had made him great. Bush.—In this confession he gives to God alone the glory, as formerly he had taken it to himself, and in this prayer he casts away all confidence in his own strength and wisdom, which hitherto had been the anchor of his life, and he implicitly throws himself upon God and his promise. K.

On the one hand, Jacob seems the father of Jewish guile, fear, unscrupulousness and thrift. On the other, he appears not only as the deeply faithful lover in his youth and the most tender father, but as an elevated, majestic man of faith, who believed in high things, who valued them, and who left on record such words of lowliness and penitence for his faults, in such genuine tones, that the purest, most repentant hearts take them up from age to age and repeat them as their own: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies.” Mercer.—He does not say, “all thy mercy”—the word is in the plural—“the least of all thy mercies.” For God has many bands of mercies; favors never come alone, they visit us in troops. All the trees in God’s vineyard are full of boughs, and each bough is loaded with fruit. All the flowers in God’s garden bloom double, and some of them bloom sevenfold. We have not mercy only, but mercies numerous as the sand. Mercy for the past, the present, the future; mercy to temper sorrows, mercy to purify joys; mercy for our sinful things, mercy for our holy things. “All thy mercies;” the expression has a vast acreage of meaning. He does not know how to express his sense of obligation except with plurals and universals. He seems to say to the Lord, “Because of all this great goodness, I pray thee go on to deal well with thy servant. Save me from Esau, or all thy mercies will be lost. Hast thou not in thy past love given pledge to me to keep me even to the end?” Mercy and truth all through the Bible are continually joined together, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.” Spurgeon.—It was the just and humble acknowledgment of Jacob to God, “I am less than the least of all thy mercies.” God rewards his faithful servants, not according to the dignity of their works, but his own liberality and munificence. In dispensing his favors, he does not respect the meanness of our persons or services, but gives to us as a God. And the clearest notion of the Deity is, that he is a being infinite in all perfections, therefore all-sufficient, and most willing to make his creatures completely happy. Bates.

Thankfulness was Jacob’s distinguishing grace, as faith was Abraham’s. Abraham appears ever to have been looking forward in hope—Jacob looking back in memory: the one rejoicing in the future, the other in the past. Jacob’s happiness lay, not in looking forward to the hope, but backward upon the experience, of God’s mercies toward him. He delighted lovingly to trace, and gratefully to acknowledge, what had been given, leaving the future to itself. Such was Jacob, living in memory rather than in hope, counting times, recording seasons, keeping days; having his history by heart, and his past life in his hand; and as if to carry on his mind into that of his descendants, it was enjoined upon them, that once a year every Israelite should appear before God with a basket of fruit of the earth, and call to mind what God had done for him and his father Jacob, and express his thankfulness for it. Well were it for us, if we had the character of mind instanced in Jacob, and enjoined on his descendants; the temper of dependence upon God’s providence, and thankfulness under it, and careful memory of all He has done for us. It would be well if we were in the habit of looking at all we have as God’s gift, undeservedly given, and day by day continued to us solely by His mercy. He gave; He may take away. He gave us all we have, life, health, strength, reason, enjoyment, the light of conscience; whatever we have good and holy within us; whatever faith we have; whatever of a renewed will; whatever love toward Him; whatever power over ourselves; whatever prospect of heaven. He gave us relatives, friends, education, training, knowledge, the Bible, the Church. All comes from Him. While He continues His blessings, we should follow David and Jacob, by living in constant praise and thanksgiving, and in offering up to Him of His own. Newman.

11,12. Jacob’s petition was that of a kind husband and a tender father. But it was mainly in the character of a believer in the promises, and one deeply concerned for the divine glory, that it was offered. It was as though he had said, “If my life, and that of the mother with the children be cut off, how are thy promises to be fulfilled?” It is natural for us, as husbands and parents, to be importunate with God for the well-being of those who are so nearly related to us; but the way to obtain mercy for them is to seek it in subordination to the divine glory. Bush.—Thou saidst, I will deal well with thee, and again in the close, Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good. The best we can say to God

Deliver me, I pray thee! To this deliverance he urgeth the Lord by no less than seven arguments. First, God’s covenant with Abraham and Isaac; as if he had said, Remember those names with whom thou madest solemn covenants of protection, both to them and their posterity. The second is from God’s particular command for this journey, “Thou saidst unto me, return;” I departed by thy direction, and therefore thou, O Lord, art ever engaged to give me defence while I yield thee obedience. Thirdly, he puts him in mind of his promises. Thou saidst, “I will deal well with thee,” and that includes all other promises made unto him; these he makes as a bulwark to defend him, as his anchor in the storm. This anchor must fail and this bulwark be broken down before danger comes to me. If thy promise stand, I cannot fail. The fourth is the confession of his own unworthiness. Faith is always humble, and while we are most confident in God’s word we are most distrustful of our own undesert: “I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies.” Though I am thus bold to urge thy covenant, yet I am as ready to acknowledge my own undesert. Thou art a debtor by the promise thou hast made me, not by any performance of mine to thee. Fifthly, he seeks to continue the current of God’s favor by showing how plentifully it had already streamed unto him, which he doth by way of antithesis, setting his former poverty in opposition to his present riches: “With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands;” that is, thou hast blessed me abundantly, and shall my brother’s malice blast all? The sixth argument is the greatness and eminence of his peril: “I fear lest he come and slay the mother upon the children”—a proverbial speech in the holy Scriptures, like that of cutting off branch and root in one day, both denoting total excision or an utter overthrow. Seventhly, he closes by re-enforcing the mention of the promise which he urgeth more strongly than before. There it was only, “Thou saidst I will deal well with thee;” but here it is, “Thou saidst, In doing good I will do thee good”—that is, as it is rendered in our translation, “I will surely do thee good,” and therefore let not my brother do me evil. We see Jacob’s prayer was a pleading of reasons with God, and himself in the issue got not only a new blessing but a new name: Israel, a prince with God, a prevailer both with God and men. Caryl.

13-21. His final act of preparation is the sending of gifts to Esau. Here again Jacob shows his worldly wisdom. The disposition of this princely present in several droves, following one another at intervals (v. 16), was such as to repeat the favorable impression made by each, as they successively came before Esau accompanied with a conciliatory message. The announcement made with the first, and repeated with each succeeding one, “thy servant Jacob is behind us,” would give time for reflection and kindly impressions, before their meeting. The number of those who had charge of the present, and successively made their appearance with their several messages, was also an expression of consideration and respect for the personage to whom it was delivered. T. J. C.

22,23. As soon as he judges that the weaker members of the camp are refreshed enough to begin their eventful march, he rises and goes from tent to tent awaking the sleepers, and quickly forming them into their usual line of march, sends them over the brook in the darkness, and himself is left alone. Dods.

32 : 24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the 25 day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his 26 thigh: and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou

27 bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he 28 said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God 29 and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, 30 thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he 31 blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have 32 seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And the sun rose upon him as he passed 33 over Penuel, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not the 34 sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched 35 the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

33 : 1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four 2 hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and 3 her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he himself passed over be- 4 fore them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed 5 him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; 6 and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children which God hath gra- 7 ciously given thy servant. Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and 8 they bowed themselves. And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed them- 9 selves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And he said, What meanest thou by all this company which I met? And he said, To find grace 10 in the sight of my lord. And Esau said, I have enough; my brother, let that thou hast 11 be thine. And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then 12 receive my present at my hand: forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face 13 of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he 14 urged him, and he took it. And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I 15 will go before thee. And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are ten- der, and that the flocks and herds with me give suck: and if they overdrive them one 16 day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and 17 I will lead on softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is before me and according 18 to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. And Esau said, Let 19 me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth 20 it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. So Esau returned that day on his way unto 21 Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. 22 And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when 23 he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s 24 father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it 25 El-elohe-Israel.

The primary meaning of this story is, that Jacob, whose courage fails before his brother, and the reward of whose wiles threatens to be lost at one blow, is shown how man, despairing in his guilt, must wrestle out his cause with God, but that when he has gained the blessing from God, he has no more to be afraid of from any man. At the same time, Jacob’s combat, when he first wrestles with bodily strength, is per- haps a picture of the perverseness of his former life, in which he believed himself to be able to force the fulfilment of the promise by the con- tinual use of carnal means, and had made it difficult enough for the divine leadings to be- come master of him. His becoming lame is then meant to show that God does not permit Himself to be forced by natural strength. But then Jacob becomes victorious by the weapon of prayer (comp. Hos. 12 : 4). As the natural character of Jacob, the intriguing holder of the heel—the tough, shrewd man—prefigures the natural character of the nation that descended from him, so the spiritual character of God’s people is prefigured in the wrestler with God. O.

The failings of the patriarchs are human, and the fact that they are not passed over in their history makes even the story of these shepherds of priceless worth to me. The timid Isaac, the crafty Jacob, stand before me as they really were; but they also show that the craft of the latter was of little service to him, and in his old age he shows a chastened and tried character which makes him a Ulysses among those Shepherd Fathers. His history is an instructive mirror of the human heart, and God Himself has effaced the blots which the youthful Jacob bore in his very name. “Thou shalt be no longer Jacob,” says He, “but a hero of God, Israel,” a name of honor which the poetry of the race adopts. It is not bodily might that is recorded in it, but the heroism of God, prayer and faith. . . . Jacob has divided his camp and flocks from fear of a nocturnal surprise by his brother. And lo, there appears the divine form of a heavenly warrior and wrestles with him. All vanish with the dawn—indeed the tone and color of the whole narrative move dimly, as if under the mysterious shades of night. The wrestler does not give his name, but leaves it to be conjectured. Jacob does not triumph, tells the story to no one, only wonders how a simple shepherd like him could have seen Elohim face to face and still live. But the great charm is the inner lesson. It is shown the trembling patriarch how idle it is to fear Esau, when he has overcome Jehovah by his prayer. Herder.

It was a real transaction, but symbolical of Jacob’s past, present, and future. The “man” who wrestled with Jacob “until the breaking of day” was Jehovah. Jacob had, indeed, been the believing heir to the promises, but all his life long he had wrestled with God—sought to attain success in his own strength and by his own devices. Seeming to contend with man, he had really contended with God. And God had also contended with him. At last further contest was impossible: Jacob had become disabled, for God had touched the hollow of his thigh. In the presence of Esau Jacob was helpless. But before he could encounter his most dreaded earthly enemy, he must encounter God, with Whom he had all along, though unwittingly, contended by his struggles and devices. The contest with Esau was nothing; the contest with Jehovah everything. The Lord could not be on Jacob’s side, till he had been disabled, and learned to use other weapons than those of his own wrestling. Then it was that Jacob recognized with whom he had hitherto wrestled. Now he resorted to other weapons, even to prayer; and he sought and found another victory, even in the blessing of Jehovah and by His strength. Then also, truly at “the breaking of day,” he obtained a new name, and with it new power, in which he prevailed with God and man. Jacob, indeed, “halted upon his thigh;” but he was now Israel, a Prince with God. A. E.

24. The man here spoken of is an appearance of God, that appearance of which we have before spoken, whose words are uttered in the Person and name of God himself. Alf.—In giving the reason for calling the name of the place Peniel (v. 30), he says, “for I have seen God face to face.” Here then it is obvious that he who is at one time called “a man,” is at another called “the Angel,” and again designated by the august title of “God;” leaving us to the inevitable inference that the mysterious wrestler was no other than the divine personage so frequently brought before us under the appellation of “the Angel”—“the Angel of the Lord”—“the Angel of the Covenant;” that is, in other words, the Son of God appearing in that nature which he afterward assumed in accomplishing the work of our redemption. Could there be the least remaining doubt on the subject it is dispelled by the further statement of Hosea (12:4, 5), “He found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord of Hosts; the Lord is his memorial;” i.e. the name by which he is perpetually to be remembered in connection with this event. Bush.

We suppose the contest of Jacob to have taken place in outward reality, and in a state of wakefulness. Even the halting which was the consequence of this wrestling could only have been the result of a real and outward contest. It is quite decisive that the text contains not the slightest indication that this wrestling had been different from the passage over Jabbok (v. 23), and from the breaking of the day (v. 26 compared with v. 31). And it is not more difficult to believe that the angel of the Lord should, under certain circumstances, have really wrestled with Jacob than that he should outwardly and perceptibly have entered the tent of Abraham, have allowed his feet to be washed, and condescended to partake of the feast which the patriarch had hospitably spread for him. K.—If God could partake of the hospitality of Abraham, and take Lot by the hand to deliver him from Sodom, we cannot affirm that he may not, for a worthy end, enter into a bodily conflict with Jacob. These various manifestations of God to man differ only in degree. If we admit any one, we are bound by parity of reason to accept all the others. M.

25,26. All along Jacob’s life had been the struggle of a clever and strong, a pertinacious and enduring, a self-confident and self-sufficient person, who was sure of the result only when he helped himself—a contest with God, who wished to break his strength and wisdom, in order to bestow upon him real strength in divine weakness, and real wisdom in divine folly. K.—All this self-confidence culminates now, and in one final and sensible struggle, his Jacob-nature, his natural propensity to wrest what he desires and win what he aims at, from the most unwilling opponent, does its very utmost and does it in vain. And as the first faint dawn appears, and he begins dimly to make out the face, the quiet breathing of which he had felt on his own during the contest, the man with whom he wrestles touches the strongest sinew in Jacob’s body, and the muscle on which the wrestler most depends shrivels at the touch and reveals to the falling Jacob how utterly futile had been all his skill and obstinacy and how quickly the stranger might have thrown and mastered him. It is at this touch, which discovers the Almighty power of Him with whom he has been contending, that the whole nature of Jacob goes down before God. He sees how foolish and vain has been his obstinate persistence in striving to trick God out of his blessing, or wrest it from Him, and now he owns his utter incapacity to advance one step in this way, he admits to himself that he is stopped, weakened in the way, thrown on his back, and can effect nothing, simply nothing, by what he thought would effect all; and, therefore, he passes from wrestling to praying, and with tears, as Hosea says, sobs out from the broken heart of the strong man, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” Dods.

This mysterious wrestler has wrestled from him, by one touch, all his might, and he can no longer stand alone. Without any support whatever from himself, he hangs upon the conqueror, and in that condition learns by experience the practice of sole reliance on one mightier than himself. This is the turning-point in this strange drama. Despairing now of his own strength, he is Jacob still: he declares his determination to cling on until his conqueror bless him. He now knows he is in the hand of a higher power, who can disable and again enable, who can curse and also bless. He knows himself also to be now utterly helpless without the healing, quickening, protecting power of his victor, and, though he die in the effort, he will not let him go without receiving this blessing. Jacob’s sense of his total debility and utter defeat is now the secret of his power with his friendly vanquisher. He can overthrow all the prowess of the self-reliant, but He cannot resist the earnest entreaty of the helpless. M.

“Let me go,” he said, “for the day breaketh.” He could have gone without asking leave of Jacob; but he suffers the firm embrace, and he asks relief from it only to draw out from Jacob the declaration, “I will not let thee go until thou bless me.” Thus at last it is—when utterly stripped of the power by which he had previously maintained the struggle—when ceasing from wrestling, he simply clasps, and cleaves, and clings, and weeps, and prays, that Jacob prevails, and becomes in turn the conqueror. 27. “What is thy name?” the mysterious stranger says. The old name, representing the old character, must be confessed before the new name, representing the new character, is bestowed. “Thy name shall no more be called Jacob”—a supplanter, an overreacher, a successful wrestler with Esau or Laban—“but Israel”—a prince of God: “for as a prince hast thou power with God, and hast prevailed” W. H.

Jacob is here knighted in the field, and has a title of honor given him by Him that is the Fountain of honor, which will remain to his praise to the end of time. Yet this was not all; having power with God, he shall have power with men too. Having prevailed for a blessing from Heaven, he shall prevail for Esau’s favor. Whatever enemies we have, if we can but make God our Friend, we are well off; they that by faith have power in Heaven, have thereby as much power on earth as they have occasion for. An interest in the angel’s blessing is better than acquaintance with his name. The tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge. Thus Jacob carried his point; a blessing he wrestled for, and a blessing he had; nor did ever any of his praying seed seek in vain. See how wonderfully God condescends to countenance and crown importunate prayer: those that resolve, though God slay them, yet to trust in him, will at length be more than conquerors. H.—In allusion to this transaction, the Most High says by the Prophet (Is. 45: 19), “I said not to the seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain.” The seed of Jacob is specified rather than the seed of Abraham, from this eminent instance of Jacob’s praying and prevailing in a season of extremity, and thus carrying an implication that his “seed” would inherit their father’s spirit in this respect. Bush.

28. No more Jacob shall thy name be called, but Israel,—a prince of God, in God, with God. In a personal conflict, depending on thyself, thou wert no match for God. But in prayer, depending on another, thou hast prevailed with God. There are three acts in this dramatic scene : first, Jacob wrestling with the Omnipotent in the form of a man, in which he is signally defeated ; second, Jacob importunately supplicating Jehovah, in which he prevails as a prince of God ; third, Jacob receiving the blessing of a new name, a new development of spiritual life. M.

32. Sinew of the hip.** Whatever be the literal sense of the words, they doubtless mean the “sciatic nerve,” which is one of the largest in the body, and extends down the thigh and leg to the ankle. The Arabs still use this same word (Nasheh or Naseh) to designate the sciatic nerve. The custom prevailing among the Jews to this day of abstaining religiously from eating this sinew seems a lasting monument of the historical truth of this wonderful event in the life of Jacob. E. H. B.

Once that the touch of the Divine finger, once that the consciousness of the close and antagonistic presence of the Unseen, the Omnipotent, is felt—what an instant change in Jacob’s feelings and Jacob’s conduct! The new nature symbolized by the new name begins already to reveal itself. All his old self-confidence is gone. His only trust is in the love and pity and great power of the Being upon whom he hangs. No thought of Esau is in the mind, no fear of Esau in the heart. Other and far deeper thoughts and feelings fill mind and heart. To know him—the Eternal, the Almighty, the All Holy One ; to stand right with him, be blessed by him, is the one thing that engrosses and absorbs. “And Jacob asked him, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.” W. H.—From this moment was revealed in Jacob distinctly that higher nature, that powerful grip upon spiritual things, which Paul calls “laying hold upon eternal life,” that singular life and power in the beliefs of the soul which must prevail. From this moment dates, though with many declensions, the true patriarch. Mercer.—His old life falls from him : purified and sanctified by God’s gracious dealings with him, he is no longer to bear the old name Jacob, polluted as it was by his deceit ; but he is to be called by a new name, which shall be a witness of his victory in the severest trial—a victory gained by distrust of himself and firm trust in God’s promise. God’s manifestation to him is not destructive of life—his soul is preserved ; and though he halts on his thigh, the sun rises full of blessing upon him. This history is not only full of signification to Jacob, but it represents the combat and the triumph of the soldiers of

God in their severest trials. At different times in their life God seems to be an adversary, to withdraw His grace and protection ; they find themselves in great peril outwardly or inwardly ; and they have nothing on which to rely but God’s promise, in naked faith, without the comfort of His presence in their souls. These are the times when God is pleased to crown His true combatants, and for their greater confirmation to relieve them from their distresses. Geri.

No purpose is more settled in the counsels of heaven, than to beat down the vain self-confidence which in one form or other is so prone to intrude itself into the devoutest doings of even the best of men. Some secret reliance upon their own strength, or uprightness, or understanding, mingles with the workings of their hearts, and prevents that entire renunciation of themselves which is essential to their being filled with the fulness of God. But when the Most High begins to wrestle with a soul, that is, to carry on more effectually the work of grace, he struggles with him in such a manner as to abase every high thing that exalts itself within him, and bring him to the lowest depths of self-abasement and self-annihilation. He will leave him nothing to plead but his pure gratuitous mercy in Christ. He will cause him, by his hidden influences in his heart, to feel that he has no alternative remaining but to embrace with the arms of faith the Son of God, and thus, as a crippled conqueror, to prevail. He thus learns to believe from the heart the declaration that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” In a word, we may see, in this incident of the mystical conflict, how completely the Lord designs to strip the sinner of every relic of self-confidence, that he may cast himself, weak, weary, lame, halting, and helpless, into the arms of the all-sufficient Saviour. Bush.

Very significant to Jacob in his after life must have been the lameness consequent on this night’s struggle. He, the wrestler, had to go halting all his days. To the end some men bear the marks of the heavy stroke by which God first humbled them. It came in a sudden shock that broke the health, or in a disappointment which nothing now given can ever quite obliterate the trace of, or in circumstances painfully and permanently altered. With many men God is forced to such treatment ; if any of us are under it, God forbid we should mistake it ; meaning and lie prostrate and despairing in the darkness instead of clinging to Him who has smitten and will heal us. Dads.

They who bear the name of Israel have the same power to prevail with God that Jacob had at Peniel. The Angel of the covenant acted as though he could not break away from the eager patriarch. The effect was the same as though he could not. So it is with the struggle of other saints. How often is the appearance strongly held out that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Griffa.

God often holds the suppliant in suspense for the sake of throwing him upon self-examination. It may be simply indispensable both for the good of the suppliant and for the honor of God that he should be put to the deepest self-searching, to compel reflection and consideration for the purpose of convicting him of some sin that must needs be seen, confessed, repented of and put utterly away. We must not overlook the great fact that when God grants signal blessings in answer to any man’s prayer, it will be taken as a tacit indorsement on God’s part of this man’s spiritual state. It will be considered as God’s testimony that he is not “regarding iniquity in his heart”—that there are no iniquities palpable to the world and present to the man’s own consciousness—indulged and not condemned and forsaken. On this principle it often happens that God must needs compel the praying soul to the most thorough heart-searching and to the most absolute and complete renunciation of known sin, before he can honorably and safely bestow signal blessings. If we place this obvious principle of God’s spiritual administration alongside of the well known facts of Jacob’s history, we shall readily see reasons, apparently all-sufficient, for this long delay and this remarkable struggle of prayer before the blessing was given. The Lord was searching his servant and impressing some great principles of practical duty upon his mind under circumstances well adapted to insure very thorough reformation. H. C.

A spirit of prayer is a demonstration of an Israel of God; this Jacob had, this he made use of, and by this he obtained the name of Israel. A spirit of prayer in straits, difficulties, and distresses—a spirit of prayer when alone, in private, in the night, when no eye seeth but God’s, then to be at it, then to lay hold of God, then to wrestle, to hold fast, and not to give over until the blessing is obtained, is a sign of one that is an Israel of God. Banyan.

To make Christ’s forgiving love my own there must be the personal contact of my soul with the loving heart of Christ, the individual act of my own coming to Him, and, as the old Puritans used to say, “my transacting” with Him.

Like the ocean of the atmosphere, His love encompasses me, and in it I live, and move, and have my being. But I must let it flow into my spirit, and stir the dormant music of my soul. I can shut it out, sealing my heart love-tight against it. I do shut it out, unless by my own conscious, personal act I yield myself to Him, unless by my own faith I come to Him, and meet Him. As if there were not another soul on earth, I and He must meet, and in solitude deep as that of death, each man for himself must yield to Incarnate Love, and receive eternal life. The flocks and herds, the wives and children have all to be sent away, and Jacob is left alone, before the mysterious Wrestler comes whose touch of fire lames the whole nature of sin and death, whose inbreathed power strengthens to hold Him fast till He speaks a blessing who desires to be overcome, and makes our yielding to Him our prevailing with Him. As one of the old mystics called prayer “the flight of the lonely man to the only God,” so we may call the act of faith the meeting of the soul alone with Christ alone. A. M.

The words of the Wrestler at the brook Jabok, “Let me go, for the day breaketh,” express the truth that spiritual things will not submit themselves to sensible tests. When we seek to let the full daylight, by which we discern other objects, stream upon them, they elude our grasp. When we fancy we are on the verge of having our doubts forever scattered, and our suppositions changed into certainties, the very approach of clear knowledge and demonstration seems to drive those sensitive spiritual presences into darkness. As Pascal remarked, and remarked as the mouthpiece of all souls that have earnestly sought for God, The world only gives us indications of the presence of a God who conceals himself. What is possible, God has done. He has made Himself known in Christ. We are assured, on testimony that stands every kind of test, that in Him, if nowhere else, we find God. Dods.

That this was the turning-point in Jacob’s inner life, the bestowment of the new name would of itself have led us to expect. A careful study of his life establishes it. Dividing that life into two parts—the 97 years that preceded, and the 50 that followed the great interview at Peniel—we find little in the former to attract; not a little, on the other hand, to repel. Abundance, indeed, of good materials of character exhibit themselves: nothing shallow, nothing weak, all of good quality and proportion, quick intelligence, warm affection, poetic sentiment, large and varied capacities for work, firmness of purpose, fertility of resource, unfaltering self-confidence; but the presence, withal, of a selfish and sneaking cunning, an aptness for deceit and treachery in dealing even with nearest friends; and the absence of any clear tokens of the continuous and dominant influence of the ancestral faith—the first vision at Bethel making apparently but a temporary impression—one that faded away amid the manifold engagements of the strange and troubled life at Paddan-aram. In the second section, the fifty years that date from Peniel, Jacob appears a quite altered man; the old nature, doubtless, still there, but thoroughly restrained and subdued. Not a trace of craft in any one piece of conduct: the crooked cunning ways followed no more. For adroitness there is simplicity; for falsehood, truth. Self-confidence has got its death-wound in that midnight meeting. Trial follows trial, bereavement succeeds bereavement. Under severe and protracted discipline, the higher spiritual nature grows and ripens, till at the close the piety of Abraham and Isaac, their faith in God and in his special promises, shines forth in Jacob in undimmed lustre. W. H.

The Meeting with Esau.

33 : 4. Esau was moved and melted into tenderness by a responsive influence to the prayer of Jacob from on high, but still through the subordinate means which Jacob did well in putting into operation. The successive appliances, first of the costly gifts, secondly of his own personal appearance, and thirdly of the successive presentations of his family, were all exceedingly well devised on the part of Jacob; and one cannot help admiring at the same time the exhibition of Esau. He had many good points and properties. Constitutionally, and as viewed in the light of a natural man, there was much to like and to admire in him. T. C.

9,10. Jacob might truly say, not in mere compliment, that the sight of Esau’s face had been to him as the sight of God’s face, discerning as he did in his brother’s altered mind to him a sign of the divine favor. 13, 14. The excuse was genuine. Tender children, such as many of Jacob’s were, would be injured, and flocks in milk, or with young, would die even with a day’s overdriving; and therefore could not keep pace with Esau and his men. Observe Jacob addresses Esau always as “my lord,” but Esau speaks to Jacob as “my brother.” The one had a guilty conscience, which forbade him to touch on the brotherly relation; the other was clear on this matter. Alf.—There was nothing in Jacob’s language to his brother which, when translated from Eastern to our Western modes of conduct and expression, is inconsistent with proper self-respect. If he declined the offer of an armed guard, it was because he felt he needed not an earthly host to protect him. Besides, it was manifestly impossible for cattle and tender children to keep up with a Bedouin warrior band. A. E.

16. Esau retires to make room for Jacob; he leaves to him the land of his inheritance, and disappears on his way to the wild mountains of Seir. In those wild mountains, in the red hills of Edom, in the caves and excavations to which the soft sandstone rocks so readily lend themselves, in the cliffs which afterward gave to the settlement the name of “Sela” or “Petra,” lingered the ancient aboriginal tribe of the Horites or dwellers in the holes of the rock. These “the children of Esau succeeded, and destroyed from before them, and dwelt in their stead.” It was the rough rocky country described in their father’s blessing: a savage dwelling, “away from the fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven;” by the sword they were to live; a race of hunters among the mountains. A. P. S.

The best about Esau is “good nature,” which is but nature after all, nature and not grace. As contemplated according to the higher requirements and demands which God makes on men, he is described by the Apostle in a single word, but one full of significance, “a profane person;” one with no sanctuary in his soul, with little sense or none of the privileges so glorious and unique which were the inheritance of the elect family, and of himself as the centre of that family, divinely appointed to this honor. That the prerogatives of the firstborn, slighted and despised by him, should pass to his younger brother, lay in the very nature and moral necessity of things. There were no fitnesses, no predispositions for this honor in him; rather the most marked unfitnesses for standing at the head of the great religious movement in which was wrapped up the whole future hope of the world. Trench.

17. Jacob turned in a north-westerly direction to Succoth, a place still east of Jordan, and afterward in the possession of the tribe of Gad. Here he probably made a lengthened stay, for we read that “he built him an house, and made booths for his cattle,” whence also the name of Succoth, or “booths.” A. E.—That the stay at Succoth was more than a mere ordinary halt for rest and refreshment upon a journey, is apparent; but can we form any idea of its probable length? We have ten years here to come and go upon, for so long was the interval between Jacob’s reaching the borders of Canaan and his arrival at Hebron. Over these intervening years we have to distribute the incidents recorded in the 33d, 34th, and 35th chapters of Genesis. To allow of Dinah and her brothers being of anything like sufficient age, it is necessary to throw the events narrated in the 34th chapter as far on as possible toward the close of this period. If we assign a year to the journey from Shechem to Bethel, Ephrath, Edar, and Mamre, there remain nine years to be divided between Succoth and Shechem. But did Jacob actually allow ten years to elapse after reaching the banks of the Jordan before visiting his aged parent at Mamre? That after so long a separation Jacob should have lived continuously so many years so near to Hebron as he was at Succoth and at Shechem—a single week enough to carry him to and fro, and give him a day or two with Isaac—without once going to see him, is incredible. W. H.

Jacob may have paid one or more cisits to his father, either from Shechem or even from Succoth, without the circumstance being expressly mentioned in the narrative. From chap. 35:8, compared with chap. 24:59, we gather that soon after his return Jacob must have come into immediate contact with the house of his father, for we find the nurse of Rebekah, who had been in the house of Isaac, now in that of Jacob. But Jacob no longer subordinated his own household to that of his father, because in virtue of God’s leading; He had now been constituted the representative of the promise, while after Isaac had bestowed the blessing upon Jacob, his work, so far as he was the representative of the promise, was finished. K.

18. Came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. The words seem designedly chosen to indicate that God had amply fulfilled what Jacob had asked at Bethel: to “come again in peace.” A. E.

In Abraham’s time, we do not read of any city of Shechem. The phrase used is, “the place of Sichem,” meaning, probably, the place where Sichem, or Shechem, afterward stood. The city of Shechem would seem to have taken its name from the son of Hamor, the prince of whom Jacob bought his parcel of ground, and hence would date from about the time of Jacob’s sojourn there. Shechem is midway between Jerusalem and Nazareth—and between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. The broad valley running north and south through the territory of ancient Ephraim—the ancient Moreb, the modern Mukhna—is flanked on the west by a range of abrupt and lofty hills. The road usually followed leads through the plain along the base of these hills. Travelling northward by this road, we reach, some six or seven miles from the southern limit of the plain, the point where a cross-valley from the west breaks through the range of hills over against us. This cross-valley, where it issues into the great valley, is half a mile wide. The hills, at the points of intersection, rise to the dignity of mountain promontories; that on the north being the historical “Ebal,” while that on the south is the still more renowned “Gerizim.” Out a little from the base of Gerizim, just where the edges of the two valleys meet, is Jacob’s Well; while a few hundred yards to the north, or near the middle of the cross-valley, is the little Mohammedan structure known as “The Tomb of Joseph.” N. C. B.—See Sketch Map, New Testament, vol. 1, pp. 96 and 100.

Coming from the south, you continue up the plain of Mukhna until Mount Gerizim faces boldly upon it on your left. Passing the eastern front of Gerizim and looking westward, you see at a glance the Vale of Shechem, running east and west, with Mount Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. Just where you turn is Jacob’s Well. Gerizim and Ebal, it will be noted, are lofty parallel ridges, with the narrow Vale of Shechem between them. Gerizim stands two thousand eight hundred and forty-eight feet above the sea, and Ebal three thousand and seventy-six feet. At the eastern opening of the vale is Jacob’s Well; a mile to the west is the city of Nāblūs, replacing the old Shechem and lying at the foot of the ridge of Gerizim. About a half mile north of Jacob’s Well is a village called Askar, probably the Sychar whence came the “woman of Samaria” with whom our Lord held converse as he sat by Jacob’s Well. Dulles.

The patriarchal associations of Shechem are almost as suggestive as those of Hebron itself; not only beginning with Abraham, but being made impressive by existing relics—Jacob’s Well and the Tomb of Joseph answering severally to Abraham’s Oak and the Cave of Machpelah. But beyond Hebron Shechem was made memorable by a visit of our Saviour to its vicinity, and by the delivery there of a recorded discourse of the Great Teacher—a discourse not only fraught with heavenly truth and power, but also characterized by local and historical references, such as fitted it to the time and place and purpose of His address. N. C. B.

19. For a hundred pieces of money.

Hebrew kestiah, lamb, but here to be rendered in the plural “lambs,” by which is probably meant a kind of coin with the image of a lamb stamped upon it. “The primitive race of men being shepherds, and their wealth consisting in their cattle, in which Abraham is said to have been rich, for greater convenience metals were substituted for the commodity itself. It was natural for the representative sign to bear impressed the object which it represented; and thus, accordingly, the earliest coins were stamped with the figure of an ox or a sheep.” (Maurice Iod, Antiq.) Thus the ancient Athenians had a coin called βονς ox, because it was stamped with the image of an ox. Thus, too, the Latin word for money, pecunia, is derived from pecus, cattle, from the image stamped upon it. The custom no doubt arose from the fact that in primitive times the coin was the ordinary value of the animal whose image it bore. Bush.

20. And he erected there an altar.

At the same place where Abraham had built his first altar (chap. 12 : 7). Abraham dedicated his “unto the LORD, who appeared unto him;” Jacob his, unto “God, the God of Israel,” which was the new name that God had given him. The place was at or near Shechem : so that the woman of Samaria might well say as she did to our Saviour, that “their fathers worshipped God in that mount.” Wall.—This whole transaction was an act of faith on the part of Jacob. The purchase of land, and that in the very place where God had first promised Abraham that the land should be his, showed his conviction in the certainty of that promise as renewed to him and his seed : the erection of an altar on this his own land connected the act of purchase with the God in whose promise he trusted : and the naming of that altar bespoke special faith in the symbolic meaning of the name which God had given him. Alf.

The Oak of Moreb, the first camp and altar of Abraham in the Land of Promise, was before Shechem (Gen. 12 : 6), at the entrance of the valley, in the plain, and, therefore, close to Jacob’s Well. There is no spot in sacred story more accurately marked out than this; and here we are on the very spot consecrated by the presence of our Divine Saviour; exactly where we are sitting He sat. The arched arcade that protected the well and invited the wayworn traveller by its shade, has long since crumbled; but its pillars and ruins are strewn around us. This is the parcel of ground that Jacob bought of Hamor, the father of Shechem, where, like his grandfather, he first encamped when he came from the land of the east : here he, too, erected his altar, and here he sank that well, which has remained to the present day. The very circumstances of the case explain both his purchase and his sinking this well. Though the plain is the richest in the land, yet the streams in it are few. The brook that flows eastward from the valley is but scanty, for most of the springs drain to the west. Two of the three great fountains on this side the city were within its boundaries, and the third belonged to the village hard by. Jacob knew well the jealousy between the settled inhabitants and the nomad herdsmen, who would certainly not be permitted to water their flocks within the precincts; and, therefore, with that cautious prudence which ever stamped his character, he purchases a small piece of land, quite outside the valley, where there could be no suspicion of his making a stronghold, and in it he sinks this well—which must have been, for those times, a most costly work—deeper far than the wells sunk by his grandfather Abraham, under similar circumstances, at Beersheba. . . . The sinking of a well in the East is a greater work than the erection of a castle or fortress, and whether the wells be those of Abraham at Beersheba or of Jacob at Shechem, they hand down the name of their constructor from generation to generation as the benefactor of posterity. How truly in keeping with Jacob’s peace-loving character was this act of sinking a well in the plain at such enormous cost, so near the city and its abundant springs and rills; fearing lest his sons should be brought into collision with the men of Shechem concerning that water which was far more precious than land. Yet with characteristic caution he first purchased the piece of land of the lord of the country—of Hamor the father of Shechem. H. B. T.

The well is 75 feet deep, 7 feet 6 inches diameter, and is lined throughout with rough masonry, as it is dug in alluvial soil. Every one visiting the well throws stones down for the satisfaction of hearing them strike the bottom, and in this way, as well as from the débris of the ruined church built over the well during the fourth century, it has become filled up to probably more than half of its original depth. Lieut. Anderson. See New Testament, vol. 1, Section 22.

The beautiful biographies of the Old Testament reveal to us the hand of God, leading the patriarchs and other holy men along a perpetual pilgrimage, in which they are as really without self-direction as was Israel in the wilderness. Surely the way of Abram was not in himself, when God called him out of the East, led him into Canaan, and into Egypt, and through a long life gave him no inheritance, no, not so much as to set his foot on. The wanderings of Jacob were as little under his own control. And we have only to look back upon our own little biography, however quiet and uneventful that history may have been, to learn, that of the great body of events, very few have been at our own disposal. A higher wisdom hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of our habitation; hath ordered how we should be educated; the field of our labor; the afflictions which have entered into our discipline, and the stations which we now occupy. J. W. A.