The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1906-12-21

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S1hIV1 V88OS UEALens -tN AzI
In Genesis SIS: AThus shall ye ssy,
to ny Lord. Esau, thus sayeth thy SER
want, Jacob. with Laban have / sojourn-
ed and tsFried until now
In the ethics Of the Fathers called
Pirco Aboth, We Bnd . very beautiful
~ ing in the words Hasehu Gibior,
akewesh - jitzrow, "who can be no
garded a. q real hero? He who can sub-
due his passion This virtue we 6nd
In Jacob. His unnatural brother, Esau.
who thirsted for his blood, could, no
doubt, only be paciAed by fuIsome
adulation; therefore, for the sake Of
peace, Jacob was equal to the emer-
gency. Just like David, when he was
chased and pursued by Saul, wanting to
STAY him in fits OF sheer jealousy; David,
on the other hand, when, on two occs-
sions, he had the chance to take Saul's
life, spared him, and would not stretch
forth his hands in violence against the
King. So Jacob seeks and pursues
peace by all means. He might have
been equal to the emergency had it been
forced upon him, just Of well as he
could roll away the stone from the
opening Of we'll, which required the
combined strength 1T several herdsmeD
to accomplish it; SO could he doubtless
have grappled with Esau If the occasion
would have forced him to that extreme.
But he would not stretch forth his
hands against his brother; he rather
condescended to humor him with adula-
ton, calling him lord" and showing
himself humble, and he conquered. He
manifests his religious principles when
he says Him Lovon Cart, with Loban
| have soiourned, not Hoshayti, ! have
dwelt." He only sojourned; he could
not allow shimself to incorporate Lo-
bans character In his personal traits,
his mode Of living as Cart would sig
nifty, which transposing the letters
would b~e"Tarig,' referring to T.A.R.LG.
mizwoth 6l3 negative and affirmative
commandments contained in the Scrip
lures, He bad observed these DOM.
mandments although he stayed with
Labon, the idolater,
Then he reasons with his brother, II
have acquired oxen, asses, sheep and
maid-servants, and ! send now to tell
my Lord that l wish to find grace in
thine eyes," With this he merely in
tended to show him that he did not care
to make claim to his afrthright, which
he had purchased from Esau. and that
he had suficieht means at his command
withogH his fathers property. He fur
therAore called him a 'lord" to mani
test that the blessing which had been
bestowed upon him by his father had
not been fulfilled, so that Esau had no
cause to be at enmity at him. This is
no less a lesson for us. who think that
Gods will could be changed either by
curse or by blessing. All the vitupera-
tions of evil men have no effect upon
Gods loving kindness II the Lord saw
at not to shower down those blessings,
1t is the pleasure and the satisfaction
that we feel when blessings are pro-
nounced over US, and we should acquire
the beautiful trait OF blessing and
eschew the obnoxious propensity of
cursing, seeking In all our ways and do
ings peace and pursuing 1t. Instead OF
obeying the natural impulses which
would prompt us to strike; aye, strike
hard at those who seek to do us harm.
1t is far nobler to make a friend Of an
enemy; better results are achieved than
to seek to destroy him. II is more in
accordance with true religious princi-
pies to do all we can to conciliate rath-
or than show our foes and our antagon-
lists how strong we are and how we can
defy them.
Peace is stamped upon the escutcheon
OF lsraels banner; peace is the motto
oflsrael's religion; peace is the sign Of
prosperity to any community, city or
country. Fhus we as Jews, who love
God and live by His dictates, have ito
seek peace and pursue it," and in the
words of the Psalmist, we should ever
pray that God give strength to His
people, and that He bless His people
with peace"
ROBT. HERMAN.