heaven sent messengers to encamp here, and from
that time these mountains on which you now stand have been considered
sacred--because pressed by the feet of angels. Yonder to the northeast,
only a little way, is where that event took place. Jacob, rich in herds
and flocks, was on his way home from far-off Euphrates, but he was much
troubled at the thought of meeting his brother who had sought to take
his life about twenty years previously. He was picking his way slowly
over these mountains leading his company and cattle when there appeared
in his way a host of angels. He was not frightened, but in gladness of
heart he cried out, 'Mahanaim,'--God's host. And although the wise
people of your day are not quite sure as to the exact location of this
meeting, yet be happy in the thought that you are now only a few miles
from the sacred spot, if, indeed, you are not just where it occurred.
Had you then stood here you could have seen the glorious light of their
presence, and could almost have heard the rustle of their heaven-plumed
pinions.

"After this meeting Jacob wandered a little farther to the south, and
just over yonder, on the Jabbok, he spent a whole night in prayer and
in wrestling with the Angel Jehovah, thinking it was a mere man. There
he gained a great victory over self, and he received the new name,
'Israel.' And on the next day, a little farther to the south, he met
his erst-while angry and murderous brother in peace and happy
reconciliation.

"A few centuries pass. Then the mighty Moses conquers all this region;
and a little later these Ajlun Mountains were given to the tribe of Gad
as a permanent home. But, in the course of time, the native tribes
prove troublesome; and then the great Gideon, having gained a decisive
victory down in the valley, followed the fleeing enemy, 'faint, yet
pursuing,' right through this very district. Later the Ammonites were
punished in a great battle by Israel's 'out-cast,' and mighty warrior,
Jephthah.

"But look again at Mahanaim where Jacob met the angels. The place in
later centuries became a center of other events of interest. There,
after the death of Saul, Ish-bosheth established his capital, and forth
from its gates he sent his armies under Abner to fight that he might
secure the scepter of all Israel to himself. But after two years of
struggle he was treacherously slain and his cause was hopelessly lost.
There, too, David sought refuge from Absalom; and out from those