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Altemus' Children of the Bible Series

THE FARMER BOY; THE STORY OF JACOB

by

J. H. WILLARD

Illustrated

Philadelphia
Henry Altemus Company

1905







[Frontispiece]



Altemus' Illustrated Children of the Bible Series

  The Boy who Obeyed:  The Story of Isaac
  The Farmer Boy:   The Story of Jacob
  The Favorite Son:  The Story of Joseph
  The Adopted Son:  The Story of Moses
  The Boy General:  The Story of Joshua
  The Boy at School:  The Story of Samuel
  The Shepherd Boy:  The Story of David
  The Boy who would be King:  The Story of Absalom
  The Captive Boy:  The Story of Daniel
  The Boy Jesus



[Illustration:  no caption.]



THE FARMER BOY

THE STORY OF JACOB

Abraham, the father of the great Israelitish, or Hebrew, nation, was
the chief, or sheikh, as he would be called now, of his family or
tribe, and with his flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, camels and other
animals, servants and followers, moved from place to place, adding to
his wealth as time went on and making for himself a respected name
wherever he went.

God chose Abraham to be the founder of this mighty nation, and at his
death promised a continuation of His favor to his son Isaac, who had
married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, who was Abraham's nephew.
Isaac was an only son and inherited his father's great wealth.

[Illustration:  Abraham, the Founder of a Nation.]

Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons whose names were Esau and Jacob, and
perhaps no brothers were ever more unlike in their dispositions.  Esau
grew up to be a hunter.  Nothing pleased him so much as to take his bow
and arrows and spend days away from home in the pursuit of deer, from
whose flesh he made food which his father liked.

Among other customs of that time which seem strange to us now was that
of rich men and their wives and their sons as well preparing food with
their own hands, although it is done in the East to some extent in
these days.

Abraham was certainly a rich man with a host of servants at command,
yet the Bible tells us that Sarah, his wife, prepared with her own
hands the food for the strangers who visited the patriarch as he sat in
the door of his tent by the Oaks of Mamre.  We can understand then that
the sons of Isaac, who were even richer than his father, prepared food
themselves.

Esau was looked upon as the older son and treated accordingly.  There
were certain privileges which by custom were given to oldest sons at
their fathers' deaths, and these things constituted what was called a
birthright.  In addition to being treated as the older son Esau was
also the favorite son of his father.

But Rebekah loved Jacob more than she did Esau.  Jacob was of a much
quieter disposition than his brother, living near his mother and
probably spending much of his time with her.  We may think of him as a
man who liked to live in comfort and peace, hospitable to strangers, as
was the custom of the country, yet all the time wishing, as he looked
out over the flocks and herds, that his was to be an older brother's
portion when they were divided.

The word Jacob means "supplanter," or one who takes the place of
another, and Jacob acted up to the meaning of his name at the first
opportunity.  It came about in this way.

Jacob was cooking some food one day which smelt and looked very
tempting to Esau when he came in hungry and tired to the point of
exhaustion from one of his hunting trips.  He asked his brother to give
him some of this food, and Jacob, seeing a chance to acquire what he
coveted, told him he would do so if he would give him his birthright in
exchange for it.  Probably Esau's hunger was more to him at the moment
than any privileges he might have later in life, so he consented and
the bargain was made.

[Illustration:  Jacob was cooking some food one day.]

After this there was a famine in the land where Isaac and his family
lived, but Isaac did not go to Egypt to escape it as his father had
done on a similar occasion.  Instead, he took his family into the land
of the Philistines and lived for a time at a place called Gerar.

Isaac grew so prosperous in Gerar that the Philistines envied him.
They had filled up the wells which his father had dug years before, so
Isaac, besides reopening them, dug others, about which there were many
disputes.  Then after a while Isaac took his family to Beersheba, and
there God renewed to him the promises of future greatness which He had
made to Abraham.

Both Isaac and Rebekah disapproved of the marriage Esau made with a
woman of a neighboring tribe, but in spite of this Isaac loved him very
dearly, and when he felt that he should not live much longer he wished
to bestow a blessing or promise upon him.  So he called Esau and asked
him to go once more and get some of the meat he liked and cook it for
him, telling him that when he brought it he would bless him.

Esau set out on his errand, but as soon as he had gone, Rebekah, who
had overheard what Isaac had said, called Jacob, whom she loved more
than she did Esau, and told him that now he had a chance to get the
blessing instead of his brother, and showed him how it could be done.

Jacob was very fond of his mother; he wanted the blessing, but was
afraid his father would detect the deception and that it would bring a
curse instead of a blessing.  But his mother told him she would take
all the blame and then Jacob consented to do as she told him.

Rebekah first sent Jacob to get some meat, which she cooked in the way
Isaac liked, and then she dressed him in some of Esau's clothes.  Then
she put hairy skins on his hands and neck to make him feel like Esau if
Isaac should put his hands on him.  Then she gave him the meat she had
prepared and sent him on his dishonest errand.

[Illustration:  The hands are the hands of Esau.]

So Jacob went where his blind father was sitting and said, "My father."
And Isaac replied, "Here am I; who art thou, my son?"  Then Jacob told
him that he was his son Esau, and that he had brought the food as he
had been asked to do.  Isaac asked him how the meat could have been
found and prepared so quickly, and Jacob replied, "Because the Lord thy
God brought it to me."

Still Isaac was not satisfied and had him come nearer that he might
feel of him, but the disguise was good and Isaac said, "The voice is
Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."  But before he ate
he made one more appeal.  "Art thou," he asked, "my very son Esau?" and
Jacob, forced by the first lie to tell another and then another,
replied, "I am."

Isaac ate the food and then blessed Jacob, whom he supposed to be Esau.
He promised a great and prosperous future for him.  People and nations
should serve him, and his brothers should bow down to him.  Scarcely
had Jacob left his father, when Esau came back with the food his father
had asked him to bring and claimed the blessing.

When Isaac realized that he had been deceived he told Esau that he
could not recall the promises he had made to the one who had brought
him the food, and then Esau, who had sold his birthright, and now had
been tricked out of the blessing that was rightfully his, cried out
bitterly, "Bless me, even me also, O my father."

Then Isaac told him that it was his brother Jacob who had robbed him,
and Esau replied, "Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath
supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold,
now he hath taken away my blessing.  Hast thou not reserved a blessing
for me?"  And then in the bitterness of his heart he wept.

Moved by Esau's distress, Isaac did bless him, but the promises he made
were different from those he had given Jacob.  He told Esau that he
should live by the sword, that he should serve his brother, but that
the time would come when he would break away from his brother's rule.

Esau hated his brother after this and made threats that he would kill
him after their father died.  His mother heard of these threats and was
afraid he would carry them out, so she proposed that Jacob should go to
her brother Laban and stay with him until Esau's anger had cooled.
Isaac agreed to this and told him also to choose a wife among Laban's
daughters.

Before Jacob's departure Isaac blessed him, once more telling him that
he and his descendants should have the land which God had promised to
Abraham and his family.  So the mother and her favorite son parted.
Their deceit had given Jacob the blessing that should have been Esau's,
but Rebekah was never to see Jacob again.

Jacob started on his journey to his uncle's house, and when night came
lay down to sleep, making a pillow of stones for his head.  In his
sleep a wonderful dream or vision came to him.  He saw a ladder with
its foot resting on the earth and its top reaching to heaven.  Upon
this ladder angels went up and down, while at the top stood God
Himself, who promised Jacob that He would be with him wherever he went,
and that he and his children should have the land in which he was at
that time.

[Illustration:  Upon this ladder angels went up and down.]

When Jacob awoke he made a pillar of the stone upon which his head had
rested, poured oil upon it, and called the name of the place Bethel.
Then he made a vow that if God would go with him and provide for him he
would serve Him and give to Him a tenth part of all he possessed.

Although Jacob knew a good deal about God, up to this time he had no
personal knowledge of Him, but during, this, his first night from home,
he had, in a vision, seen God and heard His voice in the most gracious
of promises.  His whole life was changed, and from that time he was
God's man.

Then Jacob went on his way again and came to a well near Haran, where
Laban lived.  This well was not like the one where Eliezer, the steward
of Abraham, had first seen the maiden who became Jacob's mother.  It
was more like a cistern or tank with an opening at the top which was
covered by a great stone which had to be rolled away to get at the
water.

Three flocks of sheep were lying near by and Jacob asked the shepherds
if they knew Laban and why they did not water their flocks.  The men
told him that they knew Laban and that they were waiting for his sheep
to arrive and then all the flocks would be watered.

Just then Rachel, one of the daughters of Laban, appeared with her
father's sheep, and the shepherds told Jacob who she was.  Then Jacob
went to the well, rolled the stone away, and watered Laban's sheep.
Then he told Rachel who he was and she hastened away to tell her father.

When Laban heard who had come to visit him he ran to meet Jacob and
made him welcome just as he had done years before when his sister
Rebekah had told him of her meeting with her uncle's steward outside
the city of Nahor.

[Illustration:  Meeting of Eliezer and the maiden who became Jacob's
mother.]

Jacob staid with Laban for a month, helping him with his flocks and
becoming more and more in love with Rachel.  Then Laban asked him if he
would like to be his shepherd and if so what wages he would wish.
Jacob told Laban he would serve him seven years for his daughter Rachel
and so the bargain was made.  We are told that, "Jacob served seven
years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love
he had to her."

But Laban was as crafty as Jacob had been when he obtained his
brother's birthright and robbed him of his blessing.  He tricked Jacob
and made him work seven more years for Rachel.

After the second seven years had passed and Jacob had married Rachel,
he made another bargain with Laban and this time it was greatly to his
own advantage.  He lived with Laban for a number of years and then God
appeared to him, saying, "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst
the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee
out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred."

So, without letting Laban know anything about it, Jacob took his
family, his flocks and herds and all his possessions, and started for
his father's home in the land of Canaan.  He had been gone three days
before Laban knew that he had left him.  After seven days he overtook
Jacob camped on Mount Gilead.

When they met, Laban accused Jacob of carrying away some of his
possessions, and searched his tent for them; but after a while, not
finding them, they talked over all that had occurred since Jacob first
came to Laban's house, and in the end they made a covenant or agreement
of friendship and set up a heap of stones for a witness to it and
called it "Mizpah," which means, "The Lord watch between me and thee,
when we are absent one from another."

[Illustration:  Laban searched Jacob's tent.]

So Jacob and his family kept on their way to the land of Canaan.  He
had now eleven sons and one daughter and was a rich man, for God had
kept His promise and blessed him abundantly.  On the way he heard that
his brother Esau was coming to meet him with a band of four hundred
men.  Jacob remembered how he had taken advantage of his brother and
was afraid the time for Esau's promised revenge had come.

But Jacob prayed to God to protect him, and after sending his family by
night across a little mountain river, he remained alone in the darkness
on the other side.  The Bible tells us that there he met God in the
shape of a man and wrestled with Him until morning, saying, "I will not
let thee go, except thou bless me."  And God did bless him and gave him
a new name--that of "Israel," which means "a prince of God."

[Illustration:  Jacob wrestled with him until morning.]

In the morning the brothers met, but Esau's anger was all gone and in
its place was such love for Jacob that he embraced him and kissed him,
while both wept for joy.  Jacob had prepared a present of sheep and
cattle and camels and other animals for his brother, which at first
Esau did not wish to take, but he accepted it at last and then the
brothers separated, Esau going to the hilly country of Seir, while
Jacob continued his journey.

[Illustration:  Esau's anger was all gone.]

Jacob halted for a while at a place called Succoth, where he built a
house for himself and stables for his cattle.  Then he went to Shechem
and bought some land near the city for "an hundred pieces of silver."
In the time of his grandfather Abraham money was weighed, not counted,
but now it was in the shape of rude coins with the figures of lambs
stamped upon them.

After a while God told Jacob to go to Bethel, where, on his first night
from home, he had vowed to give Him a tenth part of all his
possessions, and to build an altar there.  His way to Bethel lay
through a hostile country, but God protected him as He had promised;
and at last Jacob reached the pillar which he had set up, and there he
built the altar and worshipped God.

Jacob's mother had died during his long absence from home and now her
old nurse, Deborah, died, so in memory of the great love mother and son
had for each other he buried Rebekah's faithful servant under an
oak-tree and called it "the oak of tears."

[Illustration:  The tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem.]

From Bethel Jacob now set out for Hebron, but on the way, just before
they came to Bethlehem--the little village where Jesus was born many
years afterwards--his beloved Rachel died, leaving him his twelfth and
last son, whom he called Benjamin.  Rachel was buried where she died
and a pillar was placed above her grave.  Then Jacob went on to see his
father, who was then living at Abraham's favorite dwelling-place at the
"Oaks of Mamre," and there Isaac died, "being old and full of days: and
his sons Esau and Jacob buried him."

[Illustration: Isaac died, being old and full of days.]

After their father's death Esau and Jacob parted with the best of
feeling because they were so rich in flocks and herds and servants that
the land could not sustain two such large tribes.  Jacob continued to
live quietly at Hebron as the head of his family, in touch with
everything that went on, but leaving the actual work to be done by
others.  He had a great number of servants and his ten older sons were
in charge of his vast flocks and herds.

Joseph was his especial favorite among his sons, and Jacob showed his
preference in ways that were perhaps not wise.  For one thing, he gave
him a very handsome coat which distinguished him from his brothers.
Then he did not send him to tend the flocks and herd the cattle, but
kept him at home with himself and his little brother Benjamin.

Jacob's sons were not slow to notice their father's fondness for Joseph
and it made them angry.  They were all older than he and had served
their father faithfully for many years, while Joseph was only seventeen
years old.  Another thing made them angry.  Joseph used to have dreams
and tell them to his brothers in what they thought was a boastful way.
Their jealousy and anger grew to hatred and they talked over plans for
getting rid of him.

[Illustration:  Joseph used to have dreams and tell them to his
brothers.]

At this time Jacob's flocks of sheep were at quite a distance from
Hebron, cared for by the ten older sons.  Wishing to know how they
prospered, Jacob sent Joseph to inquire if all was well with them.  So
Joseph set out on his errand and found his brothers in the
pasture-lands of Dothan.

When his brothers saw him coming they decided to get rid of him in some
way.  Their hearts were full of hatred and they deliberately planned to
kill their brother.  One thing after another was suggested until at
last they decided to leave him in a deep, dry water-cistern to starve
to death.

Reuben, the eldest son, intended to get Joseph out of the cistern later
and send him home to his father, but he was unable to do this, for in
his absence his brothers sold Joseph to some merchants who came along
just then.

[Illustration:  His brothers sold Joseph to some merchants.]

These merchants took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, one of
the officers of the King's household.  Potiphar was very kind to
Joseph, and as he grew up made him his steward or overseer.  Joseph had
very winning manners and in time rose to be the governor or ruler over
all the land of Egypt and in high favor with King Pharaoh.

[Illustration:  Ruler over all the land of Egypt.]

Meanwhile Joseph's brothers had told their father that Joseph had been
killed by a wild beast, and in proof they showed Jacob his son's
handsome coat, which they had taken from him and dipped in blood for
this purpose.  Jacob mourned long and bitterly for Joseph, and then he
and his sons lived on much as they had been doing until there was a
famine in the land and no food was to be had.

Then Jacob sent his ten older sons to Egypt to buy corn, for it was
plentiful there.  He would not let Benjamin go, however, fearing that
some harm might come to him.  When Reuben and his brothers reached
Egypt they were taken to Joseph, the governor, who recognized them at
once, but pretended to think they were spies.  They protested in vain
that they had been sent by their father to buy food and that this was
their only errand.

Joseph asked them if they had any other brothers, and they told him
there was one more, Benjamin, the youngest.  Then Joseph told them to
go home and come back again bringing Benjamin with them, and that he
would keep Simeon, one of their number, until they did this.

So back they went with their sacks full of corn which Joseph had
allowed them to buy, and told their father what the governor had said
and done.  At first Jacob refused to let them take Benjamin away from
him, but when the corn they had brought home was all gone he consented.

Once more the brothers stood before the governor of Egypt and this time
Benjamin was with them.  After questioning them once more, letting them
start on their home-ward journey, and then bringing them back again,
Joseph told them who he was and how he had been prospered.  He gave
them food and money and clothes and sent them back to Hebron.  He also
told them to bring back their father Jacob and gave them wagons in
which to bring his goods.

[Illustration:  Joseph told them who he was.]

Pharaoh, the King, also sent an invitation to Jacob, and in time he and
his sons and their families went to Egypt and were given the fertile
land of Goshen for their home.  They were put in charge of all the
King's flocks and herds and became very prosperous.

But before agreeing to this change of home Jacob asked God if he should
go to Egypt.  God told him to go, and on the way his long-lost son
Joseph met him and took him to Pharaoh, who received him very kindly.

Jacob and his sons lived peaceably in Egypt for seventeen years, and
then Jacob died at the age of a hundred and forty-seven years.  But
before he died he blessed Joseph's two sons and made him promise to
bury him in the family sepulchre, the cave of Machpelah.

As the end approached, Jacob blessed all his twelve sons and foretold
what their lives would be, bestowing a peculiar blessing upon his third
son, Judah, from whose descendants should be born the Saviour of his
people.

Jacob's body was embalmed and carried to the land of Canaan, attended
by his twelve sons, and a great company of Pharaoh's household, and
buried in the cave of Machpelah as he had directed.