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." [Illustration: ISAAC BLESSING JACOB.] Rebekah said, "Obey my voice, my son." And Jacob yielded.