it would appear that the balance of worldly prosperity was
altogether on Esau's side. Esau lost just that which his soul despised,
and he won what his soul lusted after, wealth, power, and the position
of a prince. He lived prosperously and splendidly, and died peacefully
we may believe, with few regrets. There is certainly nothing in the few
words which are devoted to his subsequent history to suggest that he
lived a disappointed ruined man. On the contrary, he seems to have
displayed on his meeting with Jacob that magnanimity and generosity
which shallow natures are wont to manifest in a prosperous lot. It is
just the glow of the sunlight reflected from their lives: the rippling
shallows make a braver show in the sunlight than the still deep pools;
and Esaus are gayer objects to look at, when all goes well with them,
than the careworn halting pilgrim, who bears on his brow, and no
sunlight can efface it, the marks of many toils and tears. But be that
as it may, there can be no question that the Bible does not picture the
life of Esau as a broken and ruined life, as far as this world is
concerned. The man grew rich and powerful, so rich that he could afford
to make light of Jacob's presents, so powerful that Jacob's company was
helpless in his hand. It is written that once the children of Israel
cried for flesh, and "_God gave them flesh, but sent leanness into their
souls_." Something like this was the history of Esau, and of how many a
worldly-hearted man whom fortune loads with gifts, while the springs of
his higher life sink low and die. And his race prospered. As Jacob was
to Esau, quite the weaker and more dependent of the two, so when
centuries passed was Israel to Edom. The descendants of Esau had
attained to such strength and political influence that they were able to
bar the gates of their land against the elect host, pilgrims through the
wilderness like their sire, angel-led, and saved by hope. On the whole
then, for himself and his descendants, his life must be pronounced a
worldly success.

Jacob, on the other hand, had to reap life-long the bitter fruits of his
craft and fraud. His life was a weary, wasting struggle with selfish
craft and evil passion in all who surrounded him. He spent the best
years of his life in exile, and stood before Pharaoh, in his own
judgment prematurely aged and decayed. He won a name and a place which
called him to submit to a searching discipline, to live the life of a
pilgrim