Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets: And Other Old Testament Characters from Various SourcesBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets: And Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Bible. Old Testament -- Legends
And when she knew that he was the son of Rebekah, she ran and made it
known to her father. And when Laban heard the account of the strength
of Jacob, his sister’s son, and how he had taken the birthright and the
order of blessing from the hand of his brother, and how the Lord had
revealed Himself to him in the way, and how the stone had been removed,
and how the well had upflowed and risen to the brink,--he ran and
kissed him, and led him into his house.
Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah and the name of
the younger, Rachel. And the eyes of Leah were moist and running, from
weeping and praying before the Lord, that He would not destine her for
Esau the wicked.
Jacob served Laban seven years, and was given Leah to wife; and he
served seven years more; and he was given Rachel to wife; and he served
six years for cattle that Laban gave him; and then, seeing that Laban’s
face was set against him, he fled away secretly from Laban’s house, and
Rachel stole the image that Laban worshipped. And this image was the
head of a man, a first-born, that Laban had slain, and he had salted
it with salt and balsams, and had written incantations on a plate of
gold for it, and this head spake to him and told him oracles, and Laban
bowed himself down before it.[383]
Jacob drew near to the land of Esau, and he feared that his enmity was
not abated; therefore he sent a message before him to his brother, and
he tarried all night at Mahanaim. And he sent a present before him to
Esau to abate his anger.
The Book of Jasher gives some curious details on the meeting of the
brothers.
Jacob, trusting to the support of the Most High, besought Him to stand
by him, and deliver him from the wrath of his brother. And God sent
four angels to protect him; these angels went before him. The first
who met Esau presented himself at the head of a thousand horsemen,
armed at all points, who fell upon the troop that accompanied Esau, and
dispersed it. As this body of men swept along, they shouted, “We are
the servants of Jacob; who can resist us?”
A second body followed, under the second angel; then a third phalanx,
under the third angel.
Esau, trembling, exclaimed, “I am the brother of Jacob. It is twenty
years since I saw him, and you maltreat me as I am on my way to meet
him!”
One of the angels answered, “If Jacob, the servant of God, had not been
thy brother, we would have destroyed thee and all thy men.”
The forth body passing, under the command of the fourth angel,
completed the humiliation of Esau.
However, Jacob, who knew not what assistance had been rendered him by
Heaven, prepared for Esau, to appease him, rich presents. He sent him
four hundred and forty sheep, thirty asses, thirty camels, fifty oxen,
in ten troops, each conducted by a faithful servant charged to deliver
his troop as a gift from Jacob to his brother Esau.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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