Ver. 30-32. What a night was this to Jacob! What a difference between what he felt the past evening, on the return of the messengers, and what he now felt! Well might he wonder and exclaim, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved! Passing over Peniel, however, to rejoin his family, just as the sun rose upon him, he halted upon his thigh. This would be a memorial to him of his own weakness, as well as of the power and goodness of God, who, instead of touching a single part, might, as he intimated, have taken away his life. The law which afterwards prevailed in Israel, of not eating of the sinew which shrank, might be of divine origin, as it corresponds with the genius of the ceremonial economy.

L.

DISCOURSE XLII.

JACOB'S INTERVIEW WITH ESAU, AND ARRIVAL IN CANAAN

Gen. xxxiii.

VER. 1-4. No sooner had Jacob passed over the ford of Jabbok, and rejoined his family, but lifting up his eyes, he saw his brother approaching him, and four hundred men with him, He has just time before he comes up, to arrange his family, placing the children with their respective mothers, and those last for whom he has the tenderest affection. This circumstance shows, that though he treated Esau with the fullest confidence, yet he was still secretly afraid of him. He must, however, put the best face he can upon it, and go on to meet him. This he does; and as he had by his messengers acknowledged him as his lord, so he will do the same by bowing down to him. His object was to satisfy him that he made no claim of that kind of pre-eminence which the other's heart was set upon, but freely gave it up. And this seems to have had the desired effect on Esau's mind; for though he did not bow in return to his brother, since that bad been relinquishing his superiority; yet he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: nor could such an unexpected meeting fail to dissolve both of them in tears! It is pleasant and affecting to see the bitter heart of Esau thus melted by a kind and yielding conduct. We must not forget that God's hand was in it, who turneth the hearts of men as rivers of water: but neither must we overlook the means by which it was effected. A soft tongue, saith Solomon, breaketh the bone. On

which our commentator Henry remarks, with his usual pith, "Hard words, we say, break no bones, and therefore we should bear them patiently; but it seems soft words do, and therefore we should, on all occasions, give them prudently." Treat men as friends, and you make them so. Pray but as Jacob did, and be as obliging and condescending as he was, and you will go through the world by it.

Ver. 5-7. The two brothers having wept over each other, Esau, lifting up his eyes, saw the women and children, and inquired who they were? Jacob's answer is worthy of him. It savours of the fear of God which ruled in his heart, and taught him to acknowledge him even in the ordinary concerns of life. They are, saith he, the children which God hath graciously given thy servant. Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also, with her children, came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near, and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. Had this been done to Jacob, methinks he would have answered, God be gracious unto you, my children! But we must take Esau as he is, and rejoice that things are as they are. We have often occasion to be thankful for civilities, where we can find nothing like religion. One cannot help admiring the uniformly good behaviour of all Jacob's family. If one of them had failed, it might have undone all the good which his ingratiating conduct had done: but to their honour it is recorded, they all acted in unison with him. When the head of a family does right, and the rest follow his example, every thing goes on well.

Ver. 8. But Esau desires to know the meaning of these droves of cattle being sent to him. The answer is, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. This would express how high a value he set upon his favour, and how much he desired to be reconciled to him; and so tended to conciliate. We might, in most cases, purchase peace and good-will from men at a much cheaper rate than this; a few shillings, nay often, only a few kind words would do it; and yet we see, for the want of these, strifes, contentions, law-suits, and I know not what evil treatment, even between those who ought to love as brethren. But if the

favour of man be thus estimable, how much more that of God? Yet no worldly substance nor good deeds of ours are required as the price of this; but merely the receiving of it as a free gift, through Him who hath given himself a sacrifice to obtain the consistent exercise of it towards the unworthy.

Ver. 9-11. The reply of Esau to this obliging answer was I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. There might be in this language pretty much of a high spirit of independence. Whatever effect Jacob's present had had upon him, he would not be thought to be influenced by any thing of that kind; especially as he had great plenty of his own. Jacob, however, continued to urge it upon him, not as if he thought he needed it, but as a token of good-will, and of his desire to be reconciled. He did not indeed make use of this term, nor of any other that might lead to the recollection of their former variance. He did not say that he should consider the acceptance of his present as a proof that he was cordially reconciled to him; but what he did say, though more delicately expressed, was to the same effect. Such I conceive to be the import of the terms, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand. The receiving of a present at another's hand is perhaps one of the greatest proofs of reconciliation. Every one is conscious that he could not receive a present at the hand of an enemy. And upon this principle no offerings of sinful creatures can be accepted of God, till they are reconciled to him by faith in the atonement of his Son. To find grace in the sight of Esau, and to have his present accepted as a token of it, was the desire of Jacob. To these ends he further assures him how highly his favour was accounted of, and that to have seen his face in the manner he had, was to him next to seeing the face of God. This was strong language, and doubtless it was expressive of strong feelings. Reconciliation with those with whom we have long been at variance, especially when it was through our own misconduct, is, as to its effect upon the mind, next to reconciliation with God. Finally: He entreats him to accept what he had presented, as his blessing: (so a present was called when accomVOL. V. 36