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38 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five. In this chapter we have three communions
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Speaker 1: and three funerals Numeral one. Three communions between God and Jacob.
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Speaker 1: Number one. God ordered Jacob to Bethel, and in obedience
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Speaker 1: to that order, he purged his house of idols and
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Speaker 1: prepared for the journey Verses one through five. Number two.
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Speaker 1: Jacob built an altar at Bethel to the honor of
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Speaker 1: God that had appeared to him, and in performance of
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Speaker 1: his vow Verses six and seven. Number three, God appeared
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Speaker 1: to him again and confirmed the change of his name
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Speaker 1: and covenant with him Verses nine through thirteen, of which
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Speaker 1: appearance Jacob made a grateful acknowledgment Verses fourteen and fifteen.
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Speaker 1: Numeral two. Three funerals number one Deborahs Verse eight, number two,
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Speaker 1: Rachel's verse Verses sixteen through twenty, number three, Isaacs Verses
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Speaker 1: twenty seven through twenty nine. Here is also Reuben's incest
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty two, and an account of Jacob's sons Verses
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Speaker 1: twenty three through twenty six. Jacob summoned to Bethel. Jacob's
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Speaker 1: journeys towards Bethel b. C. Seventeen thirty two, Verse one,
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Speaker 1: and God said unto Jacob, arise and go up to
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Speaker 1: Bethel and dwell there, and make there an altar unto
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Speaker 1: God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the
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Speaker 1: face of Esau, thy brother. Verse two. Then Jacob said,
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Speaker 1: unto his household and to all that were with him,
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Speaker 1: put away the strange gods that are among you, and
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Speaker 1: be clean and change your garments verse three. And let
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Speaker 1: us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will
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Speaker 1: make there an altar unto God, who answered me in
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Speaker 1: the day of my distress, and was with me in
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Speaker 1: the way which I went verse four. And they gave
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Speaker 1: unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand,
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Speaker 1: and all their ear rings which were in their ears.
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Speaker 1: And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by
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Speaker 1: se Cham verse five. And they journeyed, and the terror
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Speaker 1: of God was upon the cities that were round about them,
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Speaker 1: and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
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Speaker 1: Here numeral one, God reminds Jacob of his bow at
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Speaker 1: Bethel and sends him thither to perform it. Verse one.
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Speaker 1: Jacob had said in the day of his distress, if
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Speaker 1: I come again in peace, this stone shall be God's house.
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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight, verse twenty two. God had performed his
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Speaker 1: part of the bargain and had given Jacob more than
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Speaker 1: bread to eat and raiment to put on. He had
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Speaker 1: got an estate and had become two bands. But it
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Speaker 1: should seem he had forgotten his vow, or at least
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Speaker 1: had too long deferred the performance of it seven or
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Speaker 1: eight years. It was now since he came to Canaan.
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Speaker 1: He had purchased ground there and had built an altar
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Speaker 1: in remembrance of God's last appearance to him when he
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Speaker 1: called him Israel chapter thirty three, verses nineteen twenty. But
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Speaker 1: still Bethel is forgotten. Note time is apt to wear
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Speaker 1: out the sense of mercies and the impressions made upon
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Speaker 1: us by them. It should not be so, but so
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Speaker 1: it is. God had exercised Jacob with a very sore
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Speaker 1: affliction in his Family chapter thirty four, to see if
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Speaker 1: this would bring his vow to his remembrance and put
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Speaker 1: him upon the performance of it. But it had not
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Speaker 1: this effect. Therefore God comes himself and puts him in
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Speaker 1: mind of it. Arise, go to Bethel. Note one, As
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Speaker 1: many as God loves, he will remind of neglected duties
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Speaker 1: one way or another. By conscience or by providences. Two.
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Speaker 1: When we have vowed a vowed to God, it is
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Speaker 1: best not to defer the payment of it. Ecclesiastes five,
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Speaker 1: verse four. Yet better late than ever, God bade him
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Speaker 1: go to Bethel and dwell there. That is, not only
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Speaker 1: go himself, but take his family with him, that they
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Speaker 1: might join with him in his devotions. Note in Bethel
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Speaker 1: the house of God, we should desire to dwell. Psalms
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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven, verse four. That should be our home,
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Speaker 1: not our inn. God reminds him, not especially of his vow,
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Speaker 1: but of the aca vision of it. When thou fledest
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Speaker 1: from the face of Esau. Note the remembrance of former
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Speaker 1: affliction should bring to mind the workings of our souls
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Speaker 1: under them. Psalms Chapter sixty six, Verses thirteen and fourteen,
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Speaker 1: Numeral two. Jacob commands his household to prepare for this solemnity,
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Speaker 1: not only for the journey and remove, but for the
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Speaker 1: religious services that were to be performed Verses two and three.
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Speaker 1: Note one, before solemn ordinances, there must be solemn preparation.
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Speaker 1: Wash you, make you clean, and then come and let
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Speaker 1: us reason together. Isaiah Chapter one, Verses sixteen through eighteen two.
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Speaker 1: Masters of families should use their authority for the promoting
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Speaker 1: of religion in their families. Not only we, but our
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Speaker 1: houses also should serve the Lord. Joshua chapter twenty fourth,
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Speaker 1: verse fifteen, observe the commands he gives his household, like
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Speaker 1: Abraham chapter eighteen, verse nineteen one. They must put away
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Speaker 1: the strange gods, strange gods in Jacob's family strange things. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: could such a family that was taught the good knowledge
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Speaker 1: of the Lord admit them? Could such a master to
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Speaker 1: whom God had appeared twice and oftener connive at them?
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Speaker 1: Doubtless this was his infirmity. Note those that are good
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Speaker 1: themselves can always have those about them so good as
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Speaker 1: they should be. In those families where there is a
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Speaker 1: face of religion and an altar to God. Yet many
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Speaker 1: times there is much amiss and more strange gods than
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Speaker 1: one would expect. In Jacob's family. Rachel had her Teraphim,
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Speaker 1: which it is to be feared, she secretly made some
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Speaker 1: superstitious use of the captives of Siechim brought their gods
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Speaker 1: along with them, and perhaps Jacob's sons took some with
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Speaker 1: the plunder. However, they came by them. Now they must
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Speaker 1: put them away. Two, they must be clean and change
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Speaker 1: their garments. They must observe adieu decorum, and make the
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Speaker 1: best appearance they could. Simeon and Levi had their hands
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Speaker 1: full of blood. It concerned them particularly to wash and
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Speaker 1: to put off their garments that were so stained. These
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Speaker 1: were but ceremonies signifying the purification and change of the heart.
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Speaker 1: What are clean clothes and new clothes without a clean
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Speaker 1: heart and a new heart? Doctor Lightfoot, by their being
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Speaker 1: clean or washing themselves understood. And Jacob's admission of the
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Speaker 1: proselytes of Sicham and Syria into his religion by baptism,
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Speaker 1: because circumcision had become odious. Number three, they must go
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Speaker 1: with him to Bethel verse three. Note masters of families,
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Speaker 1: when they go up to the House of God, should
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Speaker 1: bring their families with them. Numeral three. His family surrendered
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Speaker 1: all they had that was idolatrous or superstitious. Verse four.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps if Jacob had called for them sooner, they would
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Speaker 1: sooner have parted, with them, being convicted by their own
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Speaker 1: consciences of the vanity of them. Note sometimes attempts for
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Speaker 1: reformation succeed better than one could have expected, and people
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Speaker 1: are not so obstinate against them as we feared. Jacob's
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Speaker 1: servants had even the retainers of his family, gave him
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Speaker 1: all the strange gods and the ear rings they wore,
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Speaker 1: either as charms or to the honor of their gods.
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Speaker 1: They parted with all. Note reformation is not sincere if
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Speaker 1: it be not universal. We hope they parted with them
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Speaker 1: cheerfully and without reluctance, as Ephrium did when he said,
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Speaker 1: what have I to do any more with idols? Joseiah
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Speaker 1: chapter fourteen, verse eight, get you Hence Isaiah chapter thirty,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty two. Jacob took care to bury their images.
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Speaker 1: We may suppose in some place unknown to them, that
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Speaker 1: they might not afterwards find them and return to them.
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Speaker 1: Note we must be wholly separated from our sins, as
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Speaker 1: we are from those that are dead and buried out
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Speaker 1: of our sight. Cast them to the moles into the bats.
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Speaker 1: Isaiah Cha two u, verse twenty numeral four. He removes
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Speaker 1: without molestation from si Chem to Bethel verse five. The
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Speaker 1: terror of God was upon the cities, though the Canaanites
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Speaker 1: were much exasperated against the sons of Jacob for their
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Speaker 1: barbarous usage of the Sichemites. Yet they were so restrained
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Speaker 1: by a divine power that they could not take this
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Speaker 1: fair opportunity which now offered itself when they were upon
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Speaker 1: their march to avenge their neighbour's quarrel. Note the way
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Speaker 1: of duty is the way of safety. While there was
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Speaker 1: sin in Jacob's house, he was afraid of his neighbors.
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Speaker 1: But now that the strange gods were put away and
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Speaker 1: they were all going together to Bethel, his neighbors were
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Speaker 1: afraid of him. When we are about God's work, we
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Speaker 1: are under special protection. God is with us while we
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Speaker 1: are with him. And if he be for us, who
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Speaker 1: can be against us? See Exodus chapter thirty four, verse
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Speaker 1: twenty four. No man shall desire thy land when thou
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Speaker 1: goest up to appear before the Lord. God governs the
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Speaker 1: world more by secret terror on men's minds than we
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Speaker 1: are aware of Jacob's arrival at Bethel v. S. Seventeen
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Speaker 1: thirty two, verse six. So Jacob came to Luz, which
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Speaker 1: is in the land of Canaan, that is Bethel, he
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Speaker 1: and all his people that were with him verse seven.
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Speaker 1: And he built there an altar and called the place
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Speaker 1: El Bethel. Because there God appeared unto him when he
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Speaker 1: fled from the face of his brother verse eight. But Deborah,
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Speaker 1: Rebecca's nurse, died, and she was buried between Bethel under
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Speaker 1: an oak, and the name of it was called long
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Speaker 1: Bachuth verse nine. And God appeared unto Jacob again when
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Speaker 1: he came out of paddan Aram and blessed him verse ten.
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Speaker 1: And God said unto him, thy name is Jacob. Thy
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Speaker 1: name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel
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Speaker 1: shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel.
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Speaker 1: Verse eleven. God said unto him, I am God Almighty,
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Speaker 1: Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and company of nations
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Speaker 1: shall be of THEE, and king shall come out of
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Speaker 1: thy loins verse twelve. And the land which I gave
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Speaker 1: Abraham and Isaac to THEE, I will give it, and
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Speaker 1: to thy seed after THEE will I give the land
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Speaker 1: verse thirteen. And God went up from him in the
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Speaker 1: place where he talked with him verse fourteen. And Jacob
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Speaker 1: set up a pillar in the place where he talked
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Speaker 1: with him, even a pillar of stone. And he poured
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Speaker 1: a drink offering thereon. And he poured oil thereon verse fifteen.
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Speaker 1: And Jacob called the name of the place where God
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Speaker 1: spake with him, Bethel. Jacob and his retinue, having safely
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Speaker 1: arrived at Bethel, we are here told what passed there
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Speaker 1: Numeral one. There he built an altar Verse seven, and
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Speaker 1: no doubt offered sacrifice upon it, perhaps the tenth of
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Speaker 1: his cattle, according to his vow, I will give the
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Speaker 1: tenth unto thee. With these sacrifices, he joined praises for
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Speaker 1: former mercies, particularly that which the side of the place
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Speaker 1: brought afresh to his remembrance. And he added prayers for
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Speaker 1: the continuance of God's favors to him and his family.
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Speaker 1: And he called the place that is the altar El Bethel,
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Speaker 1: the God of Bethel. As when he made a thankful
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Speaker 1: acknowledgment of the honor God had lately done him in
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Speaker 1: calling him Israel, he worshiped God by the name of
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Speaker 1: El elohe Israel. So now that he was making a
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Speaker 1: grateful recognition of God's former favor to him at Bethel,
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Speaker 1: he worships God by the name of El Bethel, the
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Speaker 1: God of Bethel, because there God appeared to him. Note
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Speaker 1: the comfort which the saints have in holy ordinances is
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Speaker 1: not so much from Bethel, the house of God, as
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Speaker 1: from El Bethel, the God of the house. The ordinances
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Speaker 1: are but empty things if we do not meet with
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Speaker 1: God in them Numeral two. There he buried Deborah, Becca's nurse,
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Speaker 1: verse eight. We have reason to think that Jacob, after
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Speaker 1: he came to Canaan, while his family dwelt near see Cham,
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Speaker 1: went himself it is likely often to visit his father
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Speaker 1: Isaac at Hebron. Rebecca probably was dead, but her old nurse,
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Speaker 1: of whom mention is made Chapter twenty four, verse fifty nine,
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Speaker 1: survived her, and Jacob took her to his family to
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Speaker 1: be a companion to his wives, her countrywomen, and an
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Speaker 1: instructor to his children. While they were at Bethel, she died,
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Speaker 1: and died lamented, so much lamented that the oak under
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Speaker 1: which she was buried was called Alon buccuth, the oak
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Speaker 1: of weeping. Note one, Old servants in a family that
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Speaker 1: have in their time been faithful and useful ought to
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Speaker 1: be respected. Honor was done to this nurse and her
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Speaker 1: death by Jacob's family, though she was not related to them,
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Speaker 1: and though she was aged. Former services in such a
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Speaker 1: case must be remembered. Two. We do not know where
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Speaker 1: death may meet us, perhaps at Bethel, the house of God.
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Speaker 1: Therefore let us be always ready. Number three. Family afflictions
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Speaker 1: may come even when family reformation and religion are on foot. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: rejoice with trembling numeral three. There God appear to him
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Speaker 1: verse nine, verse nine, to own his altar, to answer
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Speaker 1: to the name by which he had called him, the
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Speaker 1: God of Bethel, verse seven, and to comfort him under
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Speaker 1: his affliction verse eight. Note God will appear to those
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Speaker 1: in a way of grace that attend on him in
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Speaker 1: a way of duty. Here one he confirmed the change
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Speaker 1: of his name verse ten. It was done before by
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Speaker 1: the angel that wrestled with him Chapter thirty two, verse
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Speaker 1: twenty eight. And here it was ratified before the divine
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Speaker 1: majesty or Sechinaw that appeared to him. There. It was
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Speaker 1: to encourage him against the fear of Esau, here against
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Speaker 1: the fear of the Canaanites, who can be too hard
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Speaker 1: for Israel, a prince with God. It is below those
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Speaker 1: who are thus dignified to droop and despond. Two he
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Speaker 1: renewed and ratified the covenant with him by the name
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Speaker 1: El Shadai, I Am God, Almighty God All Sufficient. Verse eleven.
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Speaker 1: Able to make good the promise in due time, and
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Speaker 1: to support THEE and provide for THEE in the meantime.
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Speaker 1: Two things are prompt must him, which we have met
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Speaker 1: with often before. One that he should be the father
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Speaker 1: of a great nation, great in number, a company of
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Speaker 1: nations shall be of thee. Every tribe of Israel was
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Speaker 1: a nation, and all the twelve a company of nations,
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Speaker 1: great in honor and power. King shall come out of
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Speaker 1: thy loins. Two that he should be the master of
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Speaker 1: a good land Verse twelve, described by the grandees Abraham
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Speaker 1: and Isaac, to whom it was promised, not by the occupants,
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Speaker 1: the Canaanites, in whose possession it now was. The land
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Speaker 1: that was given to Abraham and Isaac is here entailed
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Speaker 1: on Jacob and his seed. He shall not have children
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Speaker 1: without an estate, which is often the case of the poor,
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Speaker 1: nor an estate without children, which is often the grief
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Speaker 1: of the rich. But both these two promises had a
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Speaker 1: spiritual signification, of which we may suppose Jacob himself had
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Speaker 1: some notion, though not so clear and distinct as we
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Speaker 1: now have. For without doubt, Christ is the promised seed,
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Speaker 1: and Heaven is the promised land. The former is the foundation,
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Speaker 1: and the latter the topstone of all God's favors. Three.
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Speaker 1: He then went up from him and from over him
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Speaker 1: in some visible display of glory, which had hovered over
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Speaker 1: him while he talked with him. Verse thirteen. Note the
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Speaker 1: sweetest communions the saints have with God in this world
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Speaker 1: are short and transient, and soon have an end. Our
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Speaker 1: vision of God in heaven will be everlasting. There we
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Speaker 1: shall be ever with the life Lord. It is not
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Speaker 1: so here numeral four. There Jacob erected a memorial of this.
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Speaker 1: Verse fourteen one he set up a pillar. When he
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Speaker 1: was going to padam Ram. He set up for a
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Speaker 1: pillar that stone on which he had laid his head.
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Speaker 1: This was agreeable enough to his low condition and his
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Speaker 1: hasty flight. But now he took time to erect one
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Speaker 1: more stately, more distinguishable and durable, probably placing that stone
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Speaker 1: in it in token of his intending it for a
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Speaker 1: sacred memorial all his communion with God. He poured oil
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Speaker 1: and the other ingredients of a drink, offering upon it.
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Speaker 1: His vow was, this stone shall be God's house, that is,
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Speaker 1: shall be set up for his honor as houses to
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Speaker 1: the praise of their builders. And here he performs it,
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Speaker 1: transferring it to God by anointing it. Two, he confirmed
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Speaker 1: the name he had formerly given to the place verse fifteen, Bethel,
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Speaker 1: the House of God. Yet this very place afterwards lost
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Speaker 1: the honor of its name and became beth a van,
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Speaker 1: a house of iniquity. For here it was that Jeroboem
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Speaker 1: set up with one of his calves. It is impossible
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Speaker 1: for the best man to entail upon a place so
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Speaker 1: much as the profession and form of religion. Death of
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Speaker 1: Rachel b. C. Seventeen thirty two, verse sixteen. And they
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Speaker 1: journeyed from Bethel, and there was but a little way
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Speaker 1: to come to Ephrath. And Rachel travailed, and she had
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Speaker 1: hard labor verse seventeen. And it came to pass when
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Speaker 1: she was in hard labor, that the midwife said, unto
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Speaker 1: her fear, not thou shalt have this son, also verse eighteen,
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Speaker 1: And it came to pass as her soul was in departing,
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Speaker 1: for she died, that she called his name Benoni, but
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Speaker 1: his father called him Benjamin verse nineteen. And Rachel died
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Speaker 1: and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is
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Speaker 1: beth Lehem, verse twenty. And Jacob set a pillar upon
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Speaker 1: her grave, that is a pillar of Rachel's grave. Unto
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Speaker 1: this day we have here the story of the death
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Speaker 1: of Rachel, the beloffed wife of Jacob. One. She fell
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Speaker 1: in travail by the way, not able to reach Bethlehem,
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Speaker 1: the next town, though they were near it. So suddenly
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Speaker 1: does pain sometimes come upon a woman in travail, which
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Speaker 1: she cannot escape or put off. We may suppose Jacob
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Speaker 1: had soon a tent up convenient enough for her reception. Two.
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Speaker 1: Her pains were violent. She had hard labor, harder than usual.
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Speaker 1: This was the effect of sin. Chapter three, verse sixteen.
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Speaker 1: Note human life begins with sorrow, and the roses of
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Speaker 1: its joy are surrounded with thorns. Three. The midwife encouraged
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Speaker 1: her verse seventeen. No doubt she had her midwife with
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Speaker 1: her ready at hand. Yet that would not secure her.
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Speaker 1: Rachel had said, when she bore Joseph, God shall add
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Speaker 1: another son, which now the midwife remembers and tells her
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Speaker 1: her words were made good. Yet this did not avail
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Speaker 1: to keep up her spirits. Unless God command away, fear
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Speaker 1: no one else can. He only says, of one having authority,
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Speaker 1: fear not. We are apt in extreme perils to comfort
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Speaker 1: ourselves and our friends with the hopes of the temporal deliverance,
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Speaker 1: in which we may be disappointed. We had better found
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Speaker 1: our comforts on that which cannot fail us, the hope
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Speaker 1: of eternal life. For her travail was to be the
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Speaker 1: life of the child, but to her own death. Note
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Speaker 1: though the pains and perils of child bearing were introduced
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Speaker 1: by sin, yet they have sometimes been fatal to very
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Speaker 1: holy women, who, though not saved in child bearing, are
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Speaker 1: saved through it with an everlasting salvation. Rachel had passionately said,
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Speaker 1: give me children, or else I die. And now that
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Speaker 1: she had children, for this was her second, she died.
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Speaker 1: Her dying is here called the departing of her soul.
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Speaker 1: Note the death of the body is but the departure
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Speaker 1: of the soul to the world of spirits. Five. Her
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Speaker 1: dying lips called her new born son Venoni, the son
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Speaker 1: of my sorrow. And many a son not born in
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Speaker 1: such hard labor, yet proves the son of his parent's
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Speaker 1: sorrow and the heaviness of her that bore him. Children
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Speaker 1: are enough the sorrow of their poor mothers in the breeding,
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Speaker 1: bearing and nursing of them. They should, therefore, when they
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Speaker 1: grow up study to be their joy, and so, if possible,
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Speaker 1: to make them some amends. But Jacob, because he would
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Speaker 1: not renew the sorrowful remembrance of his mother's death, every
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Speaker 1: time he called his son by his name, changed his
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Speaker 1: name and called him Benjamin, the son of my right hand,
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Speaker 1: that is very dear to me. Set on my right
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Speaker 1: hand for a blessing the support of my age, like
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Speaker 1: the staff in my right hand. Six. Jacob buried her
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Speaker 1: near the place where she died, and she died in
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Speaker 1: child bed. It was convenient to bury her quickly, and
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Speaker 1: therefore he did not bring her to the burying place
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Speaker 1: of his family. If the soul be at rest after death,
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Speaker 1: it matters little where the body lies in the place
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Speaker 1: where the tree falls there. Let it be No mention
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Speaker 1: is made of the mourning that was at her death,
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Speaker 1: because that might easily be taken for granted. Jacob, no doubt,
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Speaker 1: was a true mourner. Note great affliction sometimes befalls immediately
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Speaker 1: after great comforts. Lest Jacob should be lifted up with
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Speaker 1: the visions of the almighty with which he was honored,
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Speaker 1: was sent as a thorn in the flesh to humble him.
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Speaker 1: Those that enjoy the favors peculiar to the children of God,
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Speaker 1: must yet expect the troubles that are common to the
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Speaker 1: children of men. Deborah, who had she lived, would have
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Speaker 1: been a comfort to Rachel in her extremity, died but
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Speaker 1: a little before. Note when death comes into a family,
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Speaker 1: it often strikes double God by it speaks once, yea twice.
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Speaker 1: The Jewish writers say the death of Deborah and Rachel
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Speaker 1: was to expiate the murder of the Sichamites, occasioned by Dinah,
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Speaker 1: a daughter of the family. Seven. Jacob set up a
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Speaker 1: pill upon her grave, so that it was known long
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Speaker 1: after to be Rachel's sepulcher Fir Samuel, chapter ten, verse two.
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Speaker 1: And Providence so ordered it that this place afterwards fell
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Speaker 1: in the lot of Benjamin. Jacob set up a pillar
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Speaker 1: in remembrance of his joys verse fourteen. And here he
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Speaker 1: sets up one in remembrance of his sorrows. For so
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Speaker 1: it may be of use to ourselves to keep both
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Speaker 1: in mind, so it may be of use to others
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Speaker 1: to transmit the memorials of both. The Church long afterwards
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Speaker 1: owned that what God said to Jacob at Bethel, both
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Speaker 1: by his word and by his rod, he intended for
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Speaker 1: their instructions Hoosia, chapter one hundred and twelve, verse four.
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Speaker 1: There he spoke with us the disgrace of Reuben b. C.
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Speaker 1: Seventeen sixteen, verse twenty one. And Israel journeyed and spread
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Speaker 1: his tent beyond the Tower of Edar verse twenty two.
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Speaker 1: And it came to pass when israe Israel dwelt in
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Speaker 1: that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilh, his
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Speaker 1: father's concubine, And Israel heard it. Now. The sons of
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Speaker 1: Jacob were twelve verse twenty three, the sons of Leah Reuben,
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Speaker 1: Jacob's first born, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and
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Speaker 1: Ishikar and Zebulen verse twenty four. The sons of Rachel,
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Speaker 1: Joseph and Benjamin verse twenty five. And the sons of
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Speaker 1: Bilh Rachel's handmaid Dan and Naphthali verse twenty six. And
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Speaker 1: the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid Gad and Asher. These
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Speaker 1: are the sons of Jacob which were born to him
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Speaker 1: in Padan Oram verse twenty seven. And Jacob came unto Isaac,
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Speaker 1: his father, unto memory, unto the city of Arbah, which
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Speaker 1: is hebron where Abraham and Isaac sojourn verse twenty eight.
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Speaker 1: And the days of Isaac were ane hundred and fourscore
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Speaker 1: years verse twenty nine. And Isaac gave up the ghosts
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Speaker 1: and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old
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Speaker 1: and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob
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Speaker 1: buried him. Here is one Jacob's removal verse twenty one.
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Speaker 1: He also as his father's sojourn in the land of Promise,
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Speaker 1: as in a strange country, and was not long in
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Speaker 1: a place immediately after the story of Rachel's death. He
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Speaker 1: is here called Israel verse twenty one and twenty two,
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Speaker 1: and not often so afterwards. The Jews say, the historian
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Speaker 1: does him this honor here because he bore that affliction
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Speaker 1: with such admirable patience and submission to Providence. Note those
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Speaker 1: are Israel's, indeed, princes with God that support the government
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Speaker 1: of their own passions. He that has this rule over
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Speaker 1: his own spirit is better than the mighty Israel, a
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Speaker 1: prince with God yet dwells intents. The city is reserved
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Speaker 1: for him in the other world. Two. The sin of
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Speaker 1: Reuben a piece of abominable wickedness. It was that he
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Speaker 1: was guilty of verse twenty two. That very sin which
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Speaker 1: the apostle says first corintheis five verse one. It is
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Speaker 1: not so much as named among the gentiles, that one
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Speaker 1: should have his father's wife. It is said to have
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Speaker 1: been when Israel dwelt in that land, as if he
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Speaker 1: were then absent from his family, which might be the
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Speaker 1: unhappy occasion of these disorders. Though perhaps Bilhah was the
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Speaker 1: greater criminal, and it is probable was abandoned by Jacob
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Speaker 1: for it. Yet Reuben's crime was so provoking that for
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Speaker 1: it he lost his birthright and blessing. Chapter forty nine,
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Speaker 1: verse four. The first born is not always the best
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Speaker 1: nor the most promising. This was Reuben's sin, but it
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Speaker 1: was Jacob's affliction. And what a sore affliction it was
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Speaker 1: is intimated in a little compass. And Israel heard it
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Speaker 1: no more is said. That is enough. He heard it
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Speaker 1: with the utmost grief and shame, horror and displeasure. Reuben
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Speaker 1: thought to conceal it, that his father should never hear
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Speaker 1: of it. But those that promise themselves secrecy and sin
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Speaker 1: are generally disappointed. A bird of the air carries the
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Speaker 1: voice three. A complete list of the sons of Jacob,
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Speaker 1: now that Benjamin the younger was born. This is the
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Speaker 1: first time we have the names of these heads of
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Speaker 1: the twelve tribes together. Afterwards we find them very often
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Speaker 1: spoken of and enumerated, even to the end of the
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Speaker 1: Bible Revelations Chapter seven, verse four, Chapter twenty one, Verse twelve. Four.
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Speaker 1: The visit which Jacob made to his father Isaac at Hebron,
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Speaker 1: We may suppose he had visited him before since his return,
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Speaker 1: for he sorely longed after his father's house, but never
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Speaker 1: till now brought his family to settle with him or
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Speaker 1: near him Verse twenty seven. Probably he did this now
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Speaker 1: upon the death of Rebecca, by which Isaac was left
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Speaker 1: solitary and not disposed to marry again. Five. The age
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Speaker 1: and death of Isaac are here recorded, though it appears
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Speaker 1: by computation that he died not till many years after
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Speaker 1: Joseph was sold into Egypt, and much about the time
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Speaker 1: that he was preferred there. Isaac, a mild, quiet man,
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Speaker 1: lived the longest of all the patriarchs, for he was
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Speaker 1: one hundred eighty years old. Abraham was about one hundred
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Speaker 1: and seventy five. Isaac lived about forty years after he
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Speaker 1: made his will. Chapter twenty seven, verse two. We shall
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Speaker 1: not die an hour the sooner, but abundantly the better
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Speaker 1: for our timely setting our heart and house in order.
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Speaker 1: Particular notices taken of the amicable agreement of Esau and
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Speaker 1: Jacob in solemnizing their father's funeral verse twenty nine, to
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Speaker 1: show how wonderfully God had chained Esau's mind since he
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Speaker 1: vowed his brother's murder immediately after his father's death. Chapter
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Speaker 1: twenty seven, verse forty one. Note God has many ways
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Speaker 1: of preventing bad men from doing the mischief they intended.
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Speaker 1: He can either tie their hands or turn their hearts.
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Speaker 1: And of Chapter thirty five,