The life of Jacob is related with more of detail than that of any other person in Old Testament history; yet there is great uncertainty concerning the division of its periods. His first sixty years were passed near Beersheba; then twenty years in Haran, and fifty years in Canaan (though some of the best chronologers allow _forty_ years in Haran, and _thirty_ years in Canaan); and seventeen years in Egypt. The principal places named in Jacob's journeys are: 1. Beersheba, now _Bir es Seba_, a well-known place in the south of Palestine. 2. Bethel, now _Beitin_, 10 miles north of Jerusalem. 3. Haran, now bearing the same name. (See under Abraham's life, Journey No. 1.) 4. Mizpah, called also Jegar-sahadutha, "the heap of witness," perhaps the important place afterward known as Ramoth-gilead, now _es Salt_, 13 miles south of the Jabbok. But this seems too far south to represent the event, and we are inclined to place it at some unknown mountain between the Jabbok and the Hieromax. 5. Mahanaim, probably at _Mahneh_, 10 miles north of the Jabbok. 6. Peniel, afterward Penuel, unknown, but somewhere on the brook Jabbok. 7. Succoth, "booths," recently identified as _Tell Darala_, a mile north of the Jabbok, in the Jordan Valley. 8. Shalem, "peace." If this refers to a place, it is _Salim_, 3 miles east of Shechem. But some read the sentence, "Jacob came in peace [_i. e._, in safety] to Shechem." (Gen. 33:18.) 9. Ephrath, the place of Rachel's death and burial, near Bethlehem. The Journeys of Jacob may be arranged as follows: 1. =The Flight to Haran.= (Gen. 28:10-29:14.) Fearing the vengeance of Esau after the stolen blessing, Jacob hastily left his home at Beersheba, and journeyed northward to Haran. At Bethel he saw the vision of the heavenly ladder, and arrived safely at Haran, distant 450 miles from Beersheba. Here he remained either 20 or 40 years, according to different views, and married his two wives. 2. =The Return to Canaan.= (Gen. 31-33.) At Mizpah he made a treaty with Laban; at Mahanaim was comforted by a vision of angels; at Peniel wrestled with "the angel of God," and was reconciled to his brother Esau; and at Salim (if that be the name of a place), near Shechem, he rested in the Land of Promise. 3. =The Residence in Canaan.= (Gen. 34-45.) The slaughter of the Shechemites by Simeon and Levi, caused Jacob to move his increasing clan further south. At Bethel he renewed the covenant with God. (Gen. 35:1-15.) Near Ephrath, or Bethlehem, his beloved wife Rachel died and was buried. (Gen. 35:10-20.) At Hebron he met once more his aged father, and remained during most of his after-life in the land. (Gen. 35:27.) While Jacob was living at Hebron, Joseph was sold a slave to the Midianites, at Dothan, on the southern slopes of Mount Gilboa, and by them taken down to Egypt. (Gen. 37.)