all their gains, and dwelling only upon his. Mercenary characters are not contented to prosper with others, but think much of every thing that goes beside themselves. If a poor tenant or a servant thrive under them, they will soon be heard murmuring, He hath taken away all that was ours, and of that which was ours hath he gotten all his glory. If Laban's sons only had murmured thus, Jacob might have borne it; but their father was of the same mind, and carried it thus unkindly towards him. He had been very willing to part with his daughters, more so indeed than he ought to have been; but Jacob's increase of cattle under him touches him in a tender part.

Ver. 3. The Lord had promised to be with Jacob, and to keep him in all places whither he went; and he makes good his promise. Like a watchful friend at his right hand, he observes his treatment, and warns him to depart. If Jacob had removed from mere personal resentment, or as stimulated only by a sense of injury, he might have sinned against God, though not against Laban. But when it was said to him, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee, his way was plain before him. In all our removals, it becomes us so to act as that we may hope for the divine presence and blessing to attend us; else, though we may flee from one trouble, we shall fall into many, and be less able to endure them.

Ver. 4-13. And now, being warned of God to depart, he sends for his wives into the field, where he might converse with them freely on the subject, without danger of being overheard. Had they been servants, it had been sufficient to have imparted to them his will; but being wives, they require a different treatment. There is an authority which scripture and nature give to the man over the woman; but every one who deserves the name of a man will exercise it with a gentleness and kindness that shall render it pleasant, rather than burdensome. He will consult with her as a friend, and satisfy her by giving the reasons of his conduct. Thus did Jacob to both his wives, who, by such kind conduct, forgot the differences between themselves, and cheerfully cast in their lot with him.

The reasons assigned for leaving were, partly the treatment of Laban, and partly the intimations from God. I see your father's countenance, says he, that it is not toward me as before. It is wisely ordered, that the countenance shall, in most cases, be an index to the heart; else there would be much more deception in the world than there is. We gather more of men's disposition towards us from looks, than from words; and domestic happiness is more influenced by the one, than by the other. Sullen silence is often less tolerable than contention itself, because the latter, painful as it is, affords opportunity for mutual explanation. But while Jacob had to complain of Laban's cloudy countenance, he could add, The God of my father has been with me. God's smiles are the best support under man's frowns: if we walk in the light of his countenance, we need not fear what man can do unto us. He then appeals to his wives, as to the faithfulness and diligence with which he had served their father, and the deceitful treatment he had met with in return. Ye know, that with all my power I have served your father; and your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times. Next he alleges the good hand of his God upon him; that he had not suffered him to hurt him; but in whatever form his wages were to be, had caused things in the end to turn to his account; and that the purport of this was revealed to him by a dream before it came to pass, in which he saw the cattle in those colours which were to distinguish them as his hire. Moreover that he had very lately had another dream, in which the Angel of God directed him to observe the fact as accomplished, of which he had before received only a pre-intimation; and accounted for it, saying, I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. In alleging these things in his defence, Jacob said in effect, 'If your father's cattle have of late been given to me, it is not my doing, but God's, who hath seen my wrongs, and redressed them.

* I am aware that the dreams in verses 10, 11, are generally considered as one and the same. But those who thus consider them are not only obliged to interpret those as one which the text represents as two, but what is said by the Angel in the 12th and 13th verses as two speeches, which manifestly appears to be one.

Finally He alleges, as the grand reason of his departure, the command of God. The same Angel who had directed him to observe the accomplishment of his former dream, at the same time added, I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

Let us pause, and observe with attention this important passage. I am the God of Bethel! Such words could never have been uttered by a created angel; nor does the appearing in the form of an angel, or messenger, accord with the scripture account of God the Father: it must therefore have been the Son of God, whose frequent appearances to the patriarchs afforded a prelude to his incarnation. Paul, speaking of Christ in his pre-incarnate character, says, that being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But to what does the Apostle refer? When or where had he appeared equal with God? In such instances as these, no doubt; wherein he constantly spake of himself, and was spoken to by his servants, as God; and in a manner which evinces that he accounted it no usurpation of that which did not belong to him.

I am the God of Bethel! When at Bethel, the Lord said, I am Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. He might have said the same now; but it was his pleasure to direct the attention of his servant to the last, and to him the most interesting of his manifestations. By giving him hold of the last link in the chain, he would be in possession of the whole. The God of Bethel was the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac; the God who had entered into covenant with the former, ed it with the latter, and again renewed it with him. isfaction must it afford, to be directed by such a God!

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It is also observable, that in directing Jacob's thoughts to the vision at Bethel, the Lord reminds him of those solemn acts of his own, by which he had at that time devoted himself to him. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and vowedst a vow unto me. It is not only necessary that we be reminded of God's promises for our support in troubles, but of our own solemn engagements, that the same affections which distinguished VOL. V.

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the best seasons of our life may be renewed, and that in all our movements we may keep in view the end for which we live. The object of the vow was, that Jehovah should be his God; and whenever he should return, that that stone should be God's house. And now that the Lord commands him to return, he reminds him of his vow. He must not go to Canaan with a view to promote his own temporal interest, but to introduce the knowledge and worship of the true God. This was the great end which Jehovah had in view in all that he did for Abraham's posterity, and they must never lose sight of it.

Ver. 14-16. Jacob, having given the reasons for his proposed departure, paused. The women without any hesitation acquiesce, intimating that there was nothing in their father's house that should induce them to wish to stay in it. It is grievous to see the ties of nature dissolved in a manner by a series of selfish actions. I am not sure that Rachel or Leah were clear of this spirit towards their father: their words imply that they were sufficiently on their own side. Yet the complaints which they make of him were but too well founded. The sordid bargain which he had made with Jacob, exacting fourteen years labour from him as the price of his daughters, appears to have stung them at the time; and now that an opportunity offers, they speak their minds without reserve. They felt that they had been treated more like slaves than daughters, and that he had not consulted their happiness any more than their husband's, but merely his own interest. Moreover, they accuse him of having devoured all their money. Instead of providing for them as daughters, which the law of nature required,* he seems to have contrived to get all that private money which it is common to allow a son or daughter while residing with their parents, into his hands, and had kept them in a manner pennyless. Hence they allege that all the riches which had been taken from him and given to their husband, were theirs and their children's in right; and that God, knowing their injuries, had done this to redress them. Upon the whole, their mind is that Jacob should go, and they will go with him.

*2 Cor. xii. 14.

We have seen some things in the history of these women which has induced us to hope well of them, notwithstanding their many failings but though in this case it was their duty to comply with the desire of their husband, and to own the hand of God in what had taken place between their father and him; yet there is something in their manner of expressing themselves that looks more like the spirit of the world than the spirit which is of God. A right spirit would have taught them to remember that Laban, whatever was his conduct, was still their father. They might have felt it impossible to vindicate him; but they should not have expatiated on his faults in such a manner as to take pleasure in exposing them. Such conduct was but too much like that of Ham towards his father. And as to their acknowledging the hand of God in giving their father's riches to their husband, this is no more than is often seen in the most selfish characters, who can easily admire the divine providence when it goes in their favour. The ease, however, with which all men can discern what is just and equitable towards themselves, renders the love of ourselves a proper standard for the love of others, and will, sooner or later, stop the mouth of every sinner. Even those who have no written revelation have this divine law engraven on their consciences; they can judge with the nicest accuracy what is justice to them, and therefore cannot plead ignorance of what is justice from them to others.