Evening star., 1918-11-23

doeks. Fourteen Of these years vere
given ~ service for the privilege Of
marrying his cousinA Leah and
Rachel It - Interesting to note that
here We see the trickster tricked, for
/ Lahan refused to allow Jacob to
marry his first choica. Rachel. ana in
order to win her 1t was necessary for
him to stay seven years longer. Be-
| tween this period and the six years
mentioned in the Scripture there was
an interval OF which we have no
measure At any rate, God was work
| ing transformation In the character
of Jacob and the time was well spent.
| Finally Laban became jealous Of the
| growth Of the flocks Of Jacob and it
became necessary for the two to sepa-
rate and go their own ways. Jacob.
however. fearing Laban. crept away
secretly. taking his wives, his chill
dreu. his docks and an his posses
siona. which were now very great.
| His uncle soon overlook him at Mount
Gilead, where their :nisunderstand-
fngs were adjusted and they swore a
covenant together and peacefully
parted.
| To fully appreciate the lesson it Is
the night before the reconciliation of
| the brothers. Jacob had sent his
family and f1ocks over the brook Jab-
box and was left alone with his God.
Even before this. however. Jacob had
taken his troubles to the throne of
grace in prayer and supplication. He
reminded Jehovah that he had left
Laban and was returning to his own
| country in accordance with Gods in
junction.
| The time Of trouble is particularly
| the time for prayer. 1t is unfortunate
that too many. even among Chris
| tians. confine their serious praying
until in danger or in dire need. Again.
prayers often include petitions for
| what is really not wanted. AS Eus'Sir
| has said, Such asking is the worst
mockery of your King you can in
suit Him with" But Jacobs plea Was
least of all Thy mercies," he cried.
He thus admitted that there was the
| need of a profound moral change be-
fore he could either look into the
face of his brother or MS God.
Campbell Morgan has well sum-
married the story of the night spent
by Jacob in wrestling with God in
these words: "How did Jacob come
to princedom? By defeat by Grip
pling, by coming to the consciousness
that there is a force in the midst Of
which he lives and that has to do with
him and his making. that he cannot
compel. but to which he must yield:
by coming to the consciousness. not
merely that God is in the place.. but
that God demands, in order to his
making, his yielding. A man never
finds the throne of power until he has
submitted his life wholly to God
That is the great lesson of Jacobs
wrestling"
Onr 1aSsop q, tho Lot ,.... a..
Scripture in which Esau appears. We
| may be grateful for this later por-
trait. In 1T we can see the nobler side
OF his character which has not been
apparent in our previous studies. He
has appeared a rowing man of the
fields. without strong moral attri-
butes. We also see Jacob rising to a
Ioft1er and higher plane of conduct.
He is no longer the supplanter. He
is not the defiant Jacob. Besides tho
limp, there was the inward change of
heart that was manifest in his ac-
| tions.
The manner in which Jacob met
| Esau was typical of his shrewdness
and caution. Esau was approaching
with an armed force of 400 Bedouins,
whether or not in a spirit of revenge
for the wrongs done him over twenty
years before Jacob did not know. The
family was divided. the handmaids
and their children foremost. Leah and
l III NAAAoi ioilOW lHS, ana haChel,
the favorite wife, and Joseph last, be-
| ing exposed to the danger in reverse
! order to his affection for them But
| he had been careful to send ahead
the carefully selected presents from
among the best of his fiocks
( Some are prone to belittIe Jacobs
peace offerings as if they are in
d!cative of cowardice or perhaps of
diplomacy. But these explanations do
not fully account for the generous
handing over Of one-half of his
enormous possessions. 1t is proper to
believe that Jacob chad resolved to
make restitution, in the only terms
pow open to him, to the one he had
wronged. Surely. the night with God
had changed his heart and it was a
sincere effort to 'get up at the very
point where he had fallen down." Be
fore spiritual peace and reconciliation
there was the necessity for economic
readjuStment or, as one writer has
said. 1.-The terms of his spiritual
agony were not merely thoughts and
feelings, but oxen and asses, camels
and hoci1s."
]