his birthright, and subsequently went forth to become the founder of
the Edomites. Jacob spent a portion of his youth in Padan-Aram; here he
served Laban for the hands of his cousins Rachel and Leah; then, owing
to the bad faith of his uncle, he left him secretly, after twenty
years' service, taking with him his wives and innumerable flocks. At
first he wandered aimlessly along the eastern bank of the Jordan,
where Jahveh revealed Himself to him in his troubles. Laban pursued and
overtook him, and, acknowledging his own injustice, pardoned him for
having taken flight. Jacob raised a heap of stones on the site of
their encounter, known at Mizpah to after-ages as the "Stone of Witness
"--G-al-Ed (Galeed).*** This having been accomplished, his difficulties
began with his brother Esau, who bore him no good will.

* _Gen._ xxvi. 1--31, Jehovistic narrative. In _Gen._ xxv.
11 an Elohistic interpolation makes Isaac also dwell in the
south, near to the "Well of the Living One Who seeth me."

** _Gen._ xxiv., where two narratives appear to have been
amalgamated; in the second of these, Abraham seems to have
played no part, and Eliezer apparently conducted Rebecca
direct to her husband Isaac (vers. 61-67).

*** _Gen._ xxxi. 45-54, where the writer evidently traces
the origin of the word Gilead to Gal-Ed. We gather from the
context that the narrative was connected with the cairn at
Mizpah which separated the Hebrew from the Aramaean speaking
peoples.

One night, at the ford of the Jabbok, when he had fallen behind his
companions, "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the
day," without prevailing against him. The stranger endeavoured to escape
before daybreak, but only succeeded in doing so at the cost of giving
Jacob his blessing. "What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he
said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast
striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob called the
place Peniel, "for," said he, "I have seen God face to face, and my life
is preserved." The hollow of his thigh was "strained as he wrestled with
him," and he became permanently lame.* Immediately after the struggle
he met Esau, and endeavoured to appease him by his humility, building a
house for him, and providing booths for his cattle, so as to secure for
his descendants the possession of the land. From this circumstance the
place received