Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-11-08
When Intrigue Conquered
righteousness
international Sunday School Lesson For Novem-
Der 10 Is Jacob Deceives His Father"
Genesis 27:18-2o.
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS

Many people will see a most tim >
~ parallel between the present inter-
national conditions. and the old story
of Jacobs ~supplanting Esau, The
brave warrior. the candid. outspoken'
genuine man of the affair. Esau, was
despoiled of his rights by the gulle-
full, seCretive. INSCRIPTIONS trickster'
Jacob. What Jacob could not win in
a fair fight, he secured by intrigue
and deception. This lesson, whlch
will be studied by twenty million per
sons in North America, comes almost
in the nature of a warning, to ma
tons beset by peace traps.
The story itself is a literary classic
Isaac, the patriarch, had grown old.
His sons. Esau and Jacob, were tenn
permentally different. The older,
Esau, the hairy one, was an impul-
sive. reckless, strong-fisted hunter,
without fixed principles. When he
was hungry he traded his special
rights of the tirst-born to his shrewd
brother. Jacob, for a mess of pottage.
AS for Jacob, he was the sort who
studied other mems failings in the
hope of protitinS by them; and we
may be sure he was OPPORTUNITY
ready with a bowl of savory lentils
when his brother returned home raw
enously hungry. Business is bust
ness" was Jacobs motto; and he
could not afford TO get angry; polite
ness was part of his stock in trade.
He was his mothers ~favorite. for
Rebekah was the sort of woman who
showed favoritism; and Jacob, un-
like Esau, could be trusted never to
la his prospects or ruttie the house
hold by bringing home u heather
wife.
\ Story Without a Hero
There is not a CLEAN of heroism in
this tale, Isaac was a glutton Git is
easy To see where Esau got his appe-
tite), willing to promise his flial ben
ediction if Esau would only bring
him a mess of savory venison.
Esau we knew as the hot-blood-
ed wastrel type. Jacob was a tricky,
lying diplomatic" self-seeker. who
kept faith with nobody. Rebekah
was responsible largely for this I'M
scrupulousness, which she and later
her brother Laban, displayed to
Jacobs undoing.
He favoritism overreached itself,
for when Jacob fled, he was the flee
ing kind. from his outraged brother
she looked upon his face for the last
time. 1t was at his mothers insti-
CATION that Jacob slew two tender
kids. which she made up into q
make-believe venison stew, in order
TO deceive the blind old man. She
covered her sons hands with goats
skin. that they might seem to the
touch like the hands of Esau. Like
wise. Rebekah dressed Jacob in his
brothers clothes.
Evidently this was not the first
time hat this precious pair had trick
ed old Isaac. Tor in psite of the sons
pious pro]testations that he was Esau,
the father demanded tangible proof.
Not only did he insist upon touch
ing Jacob. but he also asked about
the suspicious promptness with which
the bogus Venison was secured.
Shamelessly, Jacob, the blasphemous
hypoCrite, gave as a reason, Because
Jehovah thy God sent me good
speed" This supplanter belonged to
the class of crooks who cloak the
devils deeds in garments of righte-
business; the sort whom Jesus later
CXcoriated with the flashing of his
tongue of wrath. The man who
"borrows the livery OF Heaven in
which TO serve the devil" is the
most odious of all offenders against
God and man.
Alt lAANN NpA htNs SeAo was ia
pletely fooled. -Four of his senses had
been captured by Jacob, and the
other. sight. was lacking, so in full
oriental form he gave the irrevocable
paternal blessing of the first-born
to the undeserving Jacob,
And God give thee of the dew of
Heaven,
And of the fairness Of the earth.
And plenty of grain and new wine:
Let peoples serve thee,
And nations bow down to thee:
Re lord over thy brethren,
And let thy mothers sons bow down
Cursed be every one hat curseth
thee,
And blessed be every one that bless
eth three
Scarcely had the two arch plotters
time to congratulate themselves up
on the success of their conspiracy,
when Esau, the rightful claimant.
appeared with his veniSon. The
scene that followed, indeed the en-
tire story, was as dramatic as any
thing the motion PICTURES eve por-
trayed. Isaac trembled, Esau ragged.
and Jacob counseled by his mother,
fed. OF that, more in a later les
son
Orthodoxy" and Honesty
y startling surprise awaits the
person who studies this story in the