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And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21 These men [are] peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, [it is] large enough for them, and a great deal of it is uncultivated; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. Thus many pretend to speak for the public interest, when they aim only at their own private àd22 vantage. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they [are] circumcised; only let us comply in this one thing, and we shall have great advantage; for 23 [Shall] not their cattle and their substance and every beast of their's [be] our's, by commerce, marriage, &c. only let us 24 consent to them, and they will dwell with us. And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; all were prevailed upon, either out of love to their young prince, or from the hope of advantage; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city; which being done without knowledge and faith, was a profanation of God's ordinance, for which they were justly punished.

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And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore and unable to defend themselves, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, got together a band of men, probably all the servants who were trained in the house; and they took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, perhaps in the night, and, breaking open the house of 26 Shechem, slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and

Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Di27 nah out of Shechem's house, and went out. And The sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, with their attendants, came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister; one of them had done so, and the others did not censure 28 him for it. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which [was] in the city, and that which [was] 29 in the field, And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that [was] in the house, in every house; chiefly Shechem's, where Dinah was. They might have taken her without all these; but they regarded the spoil, and basely murdered the men to secure it.

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And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, not only discomposed my mind, but entangled my affairs, and exposed me to imminent danger, to make me to stink, or render me odious, among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I [being] few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. To which they make

31 this saucy answer; And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot ? No; he ought not. But this was no good reason for all their baseness and cruelty. Had open war been declared, it would have altered the case; but it was done by treachery, under the cloak of religion. It is likely Jacob sent back the women and children, and the spoils. We read no more of Dinah some rabbies say, she was afterward Job's wife, However, her story teaches us the following lessons,

1.

REFLECTIONS.

EE the fatal consequence of ungoverned appetites and passions. A vain curiosity betrayed Dinah into this snare; and was the source of all these dreadful calamities. She was an only daughter, thought it was melancholy to stay at home, and therefore went to this festival or ball to divert herself. Observe what sad consequences pride and vanity produce; some light or indecent behaviour perhaps betrayed her. This story, yea, daily experience, shows the reasonableness of Paul's advice, that young women should be chaste, keepers at home. They that will indulge themselves in the gaieties of the age, run into the way of temptation, and generally mourn at the last, repent it all their days, and prove a grief of heart to all their pious friends. Shechem's fiery passions overcame him; he saw, and took her. It is good for all, especially young men, to make a covenant with their eyes. Whence come wars and fightings, death and damnation? but from unbridled lusts. We have need to pray, that God would keep us, and to watch also, that we enter not into temptation.

2. How abominable is it to make religion an instrument of deceiving and injuring those, who trust to us on account of it. God is never more dishonoured than when this is the case. Hy pocrisy in all cases is detestable; but when it is made an instrument to destroy and ruin others, it dishonours God as much as possible, and brings the most aggravated guilt on our own souls. These young apostates had God in their mouths, and Satan in their hearts; they cloaked their bloody design under the pretence of religion: God's name was blasphemed by them. What I must the heathen think of the God of Abraham, and of his covenant? and how would they curse the sacrament that sealed it! It is a sad thing indeed when religion is made a cloak of covetousness, cruelty, and maliciousness; and God will judge and severely punish such persons.

3. The best education may not be successful to form the minds and manners of those who have enjoyed it. Would one have expected so detestable a conduct from the sons of good Jacob? They were devoted to God, instructed and admonished, had good examples, and the prayers of their father; yet they proved a

scandal to religion, and a trouble and grief to their aged parents. Thus children of God's covenant, and of God's people, sometimes prove children that cause shame, and are a trouble and reproach to them that bore them and brought them up. But there will be a terrible reckoning another day for those children who bring a disgrace on religion, and are the cause of grief and sorrow to their pious relations and friends. One of the Apocryphal writers says, Judith ix. 2. that God gave Simeon a sword to take vengeance of the strangers; but Jacob thought otherwise, and expressed his abhorrence of this fact with his dying breath, ch. xlix. 5, 6, 7, Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united; cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

CHAP. XXXV.

Jacob having been greatly distressed on account of the murder of the Shechemites, by which his stay in that country was rendered painful and dangerous, God sends him to Bethel, about thirty miles south of Shechem, where he builds an altar: after which we have an account of the death of Rachel and Isaac.

'A'

ND God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother; there offer sacrifice, pay thy vow with thanksgiv ing for thy former deliverance, and strengthen thy faith against thy present fears; for, as thou wast delivered from that danger, 2 so shalt thou be from this. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that [were] with him, Put away the strange gods that [are] among you, (either the Teraphim stolen from Laban, or some images taken out of Shechem) and be clean, and change your garments, out of reverence for that God be 3 fore whom you are to appear: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in 4 the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which [were] in their hand, and [all their] ear rings, idolatrous jewels, and superstitious marks, which [were] in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak* which 5 [was] by Shechem. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that [were] round about them, and

The oak was often dedicated to false gods. This might be the place where such superstitions had been practised; and here he made a grave for those images which had been employed in this idolatry.

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they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. Had it not been for this miraculous terror on their minds, they might easily have gathered together, pursued, and destroyed them all.

6 So Jacob came safe to Luz, which [is] in the land of Canaan, that [is,] Bethel, he and all the people that [were] with 7 him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel, that is, the God of Bethel because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. Before, he called it Bethel; now, upon God's renewing his grace unto him, he added the name of God to it.

But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse died; she was a pious, prudent woman, and, after the death of Rebekah, came to live in Jacob's family; where she was much wanted, much respected, and at her death greatly lamented; and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth, that is, the oak of weeping. The Jews say, Rebekah had sent her to fetch Jacob from Laban's house, as she had promised to do, when it was proper for him to return.

And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. This is the seventh time that 10 God revealed himself unto Jacob in a special manner. And

God said unto him, Thy name [is] Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name : and he called his name Israel. God confirmed the change of his name, to assure him, that as he prevailed over Esau, so now 11 he should prevail over those of whom he was afraid. And God said unto him, I [am] God Almighty, therefore able to fulfil all my promises: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, (hereby confirming and enlarging the promise made ch. xvii. 5. xxviii. 3.) and kings shall come out of thy loins, tribes for number and power, equal 12 to so many nations; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I 13 give the land. And God, the divine majesty or Shekinah, went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

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And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, [even] a pillar of stone; either the old pillar, or one like it and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil 15 thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. Thus he did according to his vow thirty years before.

16 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath, or Bethlehem and Rachel 17 travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, to encourage her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. 18 And it came to pass, after the child was born, and as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Beno

ni, that is, the son of my sorrow; but his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand, for he shall always be 19 near and dear to me, as my right hand. And Rachel died, and

was buried in the way near to Ephrath, which [is] Bethle20 hem, where Christ was born, and the infants were slain. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that [is] the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day; at the time Moses wrote this account, and long after, to the days of Samuel, (1 Sam. x. 2.) 21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar, or, the tower of the flock, where there was excellent pasture.

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And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine : this was an horrid incest; he thought to have kept it secret, as a thing he had cause to be ashamed of: and Israel heard [it] with just indignation, and no doubt reproved him for it, and abandoned Bilhah: Jacob remembered it when he came to bless Reuben, and he lost his birthright for it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve, which were the heads of the twelve tribes of 23 Israel: The sons of Leah were six: Reuben, Jacob's first

born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and 24 Zebulun: The sons of Rachel were two; Joseph, and Benja25 min. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, were two; 26 Dan and Naphtali: And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, were two; Gad, and Asher: these [are] the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram, all except Benjamin.

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And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which [is] Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. No doubt he often visited him before, but now came to dwell near him, to assist and comfort him in his old age.

28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore 29 years, five years longer than Abraham. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, [being] old and full of days: he was one of the most perfect characters in holy writ; he was blameless, except in denying his wife; he was a peaceable devotional man; of a sweet temper, and his heart was much in heaven. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him in the cave of Machpelah; and probubly on this occasion their friendship was more perfectly established.

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