good dews which descend from the heavens, and of the good fountains that spring up, and make the herbage of the earth to grow from beneath, and plenty of provision and wine. Let peoples be subject to thee, all the sons of Esau, and kingdoms bend before thee, all the sons of Keturah; a chief and a ruler be thou over thy brethren, and let the sons of thy mother salute thee. Let them who curse thee, my son, be accursed as Bileam bar Beor; and them who bless thee be blessed as Mosheh the prophet, the scribe of Israel. [JERUSALEM. Let peoples serve before thee, all the sons of Esau all kings be subject to thee, all the sons of Ishmael: be thou a chief and a ruler over the sons of Keturah all the sons of Laban the brother of thy mother shall come before thee and salute thee. Whoso curseth thee, Jakob, my son, shall be accursed as Bileam ben Beor; and whoso blesseth thee shall be blessed as Mosheh the prophet and scribe of Israel.] : And it was when Izhak had finished blessing Jakob, and Jakob had only gone out about two handbreadths from Izhak his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And the Word of the Lord had impeded him from taking clean venison; but he had found a certain dog, and killed him, and made food of him, and brought to his father, and said to his father, Arise, my father, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Izhak his father said to him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy firstborn, Esau. And Izhak was moved with great agitation when he heard the voice of Esau, and the smell of his food rose in his nostrils as the smell of the burning of Gehennam; and he said, Who is he who hath got venison, and come to me, and I have eaten of all which he brought me before thou 1 Calumny. camest, and I have blessed him, and he shall, too, be blessed ? When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a cry exceeding great and bitter, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father! And he said, Thy brother hath come with subtilty, and hath received from me thy blessing. And he said, His name is truly called Jakob; for he hath dealt treacherously with me these two times: my birthright he took, and, behold, now he hath received my blessing! And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Izhak answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have appointed him a ruler over thee, and all his brethren have I made to be his servants, and with provision and wine have I sustained him and now go, leave me; for what can I do for thee, my son? And Esau answered his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. : And Izhak answered and said to Esau, Behold, among the good fruits of the earth shall be thy habitation, and with the dews of the heavens from above, And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother; but it will be that when his sons become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck. [Jerusalem. And by thy weapons thou shalt live, and before thy brother be subject. And it shall be when the sons of Jakob labour in the law, and keep the commandments, they will set the yoke of subjection on thy neck; but when the sons of Jakob withdraw themselves and study not the law, nor keep the commandments, behold, then shalt thou break their yoke of subjection from off thy neck.] And Esau kept hatred in his heart against Jakob his brother, on account of the order of blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, I will not do as Kain did, who slew Babel in the life (time) of his father, for which his father begat Sheth, but will wait till the time when the days of mourning for the death of my father come, and then will I kill Jakob my brother, and will be found the killer and the heir. And the words of Esau her elder son, who thought in his heart to kill Jakob, were shown by the Holy Spirit to Rivekah, and she sent, and called Jakob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, Esau thy brother lieth in wait for thee, and plotteth against thee to kill thee. And now, my son, hearken to me: arise, escape for thy life, and go unto Laban my brother, at Haran, and dwell with him a few days, until the wrath of thy brother be abated, until thy brother's anger have quieted from thee, and he have forgotten what thou hast done to him; and I will send and take thee from thence. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day thou being slain, and he driven forth, as Hava was bereaved of Babel, whom Kain slew, and both were removed from before Adam and Hava all the days of the life of Adam and Hava? [Jerusalem. Until the time when the bitterness of thy brother shall be turned away from thee.] : And Rivekah said to Izhak, I am afflicted in my life on account of the indignity of the daughters of Heth. If Jakob take a wicked wife from the daughters of Heth, such as these of the daughters of the people of the land, what will life be to me? XXVIII. And Izhak called Jakob, and blessed him, and commanded him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of the Kenaanaee. Arise, go to Padan of Aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and take thee from thence a wife from the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother. And El Shadai will bless thee with many possessions, and increase thee and multiply thee into twelve tribes, and thou shalt be worthy of the congregation of the sons of the Sanhedrin, the sum of which is seventy, according to the number of the nations. And He will give the blessing of Abraham to thee, and to thy sons with thee, and cause thee to inherit the land of thy sojourning, which he gave unto Abraham. And Izhak sent Jakob away, and he went to Padan Aram unto Laban bar Bethuel the Aramite, the brother of Rivekah the mother of Jakob and Esau. And Esau considered that Izhak had blessed Jakob, and had sent him to Padan Aram to take to him from thence a wife, when he blessed him, and commanded him, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of the Kenaanites; and that Jakob obeyed the word of his father, and the word of his mother, and was gone to Padan Aram and Esau considered that the daughters of Kenaan were evil before Izhak his father, and Esau went unto Ishmael, and took to wife Mahalath, who is Basemath the daughter of Ishmael bar Abraham, the sister of Nebaioth from his mother, besides his other wives. : SECTION VII. VAYETSE. Five miracles were wrought for our father Jakob at the time that he went forth from Beersheba. The first sign: the hours of the day were shortened, and the sun went down before his time, forasmuch as the Word had desired to speak with him. The second sign: the four stones which Jakob had set for his pillow he found in the morning had become one stone. Sign the third : the stone which, when all the flocks were assembled, they rolled from the mouth of the well, he rolled away with one of his arms. The fourth sign: the well overflowed, and the water rose to the edge of it, and continued to overflow all the days that he was in Haran. The fifth sign: the country was shortened before him, so that in one day he went forth and came to Haran. And he prayed in the place of the house of the sanctuary, and lodged there, because the sun had gone down. And he took four stones of the holy place, and set his pillow, and slept in that place. And he dreamed, and, behold, a ladder was fixed in the ground, and the top of it reached to the height of heaven. And, behold, the two angels who went unto Sedom, and who had been expelled from the midst of them, because they had revealed the secrets of the Lord of the world; and being cast forth they had walked till the time that Jakob went out from the house of his father, and had accompanied him with kindliness unto Bethel,—in that day had ascended to the high heavens, and said, Come, see Jakob the pious, whose likeness is inlaid in the throne of glory, and whom you have so greatly desired to behold. Then the rest of the angels of the holy Lord descended to look upon him. |