The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-25
DR., DICKINSON ON
FAMILIAR SUBJECT
Jacob and ESau, Two Great
Types of Man
JACOB THE SUPPLANTER
We Need Education, Not Only to
Make the Most Of Life, But to
Make Life a Blessing.
JACOB THE SUPPLANTER

9th chapter of Genesis.
rs he not rightly named Jacob? for he
has supplanted me these two times: my
birthrght he took; and now he has taken
away my blessing" Genesis II: 36.
DIR. Dickinson spoke In part as follows:
II has long been observed that the
Bible uses the names and portraits OF
th"1e eponymous ancestors of Israel and
its kindred tribes, sometimes as that of
a person from whom the tribe is descend
ed, and sometimes as the tribe itself.
Nowhere is this more clearly to be OBJ
served than in the narratives concerning
Jacob and Esau, being the eponymous
ancestors of Israel and Edom, respec-
lively.
In the prose part the narrative seems
clearly to be treating of persons; but in
the poetica excerpts, such as oracle to
Rebellah and tho blessings of Isaac on
Jacob and Esau. respectively, they are
represented as tribes or nations. These lat
ter are clearly excerpts from the folk
songs of Israel and must have been
current when the narrative was COM
posed; while the former came down with
the tribal traditions as an explanation
of the origin of the popular songs.
Now the question may be asked, is it
the characters of Jacob and I1sau. the
sons OF Isaac and Rebekah, which we
have portrayed here; or Is 1t the charac-
ters Of the Israelite and Edomite. respec-
lively, which are here painted into their
eponymous ancestors? The best answer
is that we have both, since both We're the
sane. Esau was the Sheil1 who was the
father of the Sheikdom from which Edom
came; and Jacob was the Shek from
which the Israelltes came and each of
them put the stamp Of his personality on
the respective peoples in the earliest
times.
If you will keep in mind what power
the Shek has over the lives of those
who are under his sway, you will see
that not even in the feudal regime, did
the feudal lord have more moulding infiu-
enco over his vas,als, as a sheik, even
to this day exercises over his clan in the
east. In such social situation it is the
great man who makes the people, rather
than the people who produce their great
men. So the differences of the people
are accounted for by the differences in
their ancestral Sheks.
A great man at the head of a Sheikdom
would stamp the whole tribe indelliby
with the impress of his personality. Also
social types In the east are very per-
sistent and rigid, preserving their char
| acters through long periods of time. so
we may read the characters of the pa
triarch5 in their descendants long years
after they are themselves dead and
Jacob still lives in the Jew unto this day.
Hence 1t is perfectly proper to speak
of the great Sheik who gave character
to the tribe. or of the tribe who wears
that character by the name of Jacob,
or Essu.
Objection Not Valid.
Nor is the objection valid that no great
subsequent man is credited with hav-
In had any such influence, because such
is not true to the facts as we know from
the cases Of Moses and Samual and Da-
vid; bu. it is also to be remembered that
owing to the rigidity of type in the
society OF the east 1t Is impressible only
when fused by some great transition. as
in the wilderness wanderings, or at the
foundation of the kingdom. But at its
very organization the ShelSdom must
have been very impossible. and being
a society which quickly gets set and
rigid, 1t will preserve the impress in it's
integrity for years SO we have here
two great men stamping their charac-
ters on two societies for thousands of
years yet to come. They are pitching the
tunes and inspiring the songs of their
ciildron's children. How wonderfully is
life linked from generation to genera
ton, and happy is he who puts a song
in.o his children's mouths and not a
wall. Let us consider these two men.
The Two Men.
They were both BORN into a family far
above the rest in their day. which had
inherited from Abraham n birthr1ght
promising great future for themselves
and for the world. That birthright was
to possess the land OF Canaan, to oc-
cupy 1t with a multitude of their descend
ants, organized into a great nation which
should be itself blessed with the civiliza-
ton Of Jehovah. and be a blessing to all
tie other nations of the earth.
This trusteeship Of the blessings of the
world in the days to come was com
mitted unto this ShellSdom to work out
as it grew from clan into a tribe
and from n tribe into nation, and
from nation into q church. This was
tn IT family creed, their social heritage,
their l.fe-mission; and they held 1t as
a franchise from God. From the very
nature of the conditions it was to be real
lied only after many generations. and
each generation must be content to con-
tribute its mite towards its accomplish
ment. 1t floated on the distant horizon
OF the future as an inspiring ideal to-
wards the realizing of which life must
be best, and did for the life of the
Jew what heaven does for us today.
His heaven was in Canaan. and consisted
OF a happy and blessed nation, blessing
all the world. with the blessing where
with l. was itself being blessed.
Inspiration Of the Struggle.
1t was this promise of the future which
was the inspiration of the struggle de-
scribed in the Jacob narratives OF the
Bible. That struggle came about by the
fact that the first-born were twins, and
in a society where the heritage goes
b. the right of prlmogeniture. matters
are always complicated where there are
twin heirs
Rebe6ah claimed to have had fore
bouings of the coming contest before
their birth. and to have received an ora
Gle from Jehovah concerning its issue.
Also t. addition had IL that from their
very birth they came forth in struggle
over which should be first. Esau being
born first but Jacob holding fast to his
heel. It did not seem right for such
important and valuable matters TO be
decided by such an accident Of birth,
ana Rebekah, mother like. pitied her un-
fortunate son. The contest grew more
and more Intense when subsequent de-
velopments showed that Esau had none
of the qualifications necessary for such
trust, nor cared for II: while Jacob on
the other hand, showed all the qualities
for the heritage and earnestly coveted It.
a