bear them because of their cattle. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom." Whether this was written of Esau before he separated from his family, when he was dwelling with Isaac his father, and with Jacob his brother, in Canaan; and the riches of Jacob refer to those which he possessed with his father (xxvi. 12, 13, 14, 34) or whether it refers to a short time while he dwelt with Jacob after their reconciliation, and after they had buried Isaac at Hebron (xxxv. 27, 29), we do not know; I am very much disposed to think it referred to the former separation (xxvii. 46; xxviii. 8, 9). Thus we not only see Jacob afraid of Esau, and fleeing to Padan-aram to avoid him; but Esau equally afraid of Jacob, and fleeing to the country south of Canaan to avoid him. But if we would see how far Isaac was wrong in preferring Esau to Jacob, and how far he suffered his selfish, carnal mind to mislead him, I think we see it in his sending Jacob away without anything, when he had received from Abraham all that he had, and God had prospered him, so that he was very rich. "With my staff I passed over this Jordan." Some commentators have given Esau credit for sincerity; I do not, I believe him to have been just what God has said he was. But we cannot read this thirty-sixth chapter without a feeling of melancholy and humiliation, that an Isaac and a Rebekah should thus be the progenitors of such a line of rebel subjects, should thus be the propagators of evil. As we read, we leave the whole of the human family, human nature, beneath the ban of God's mest holy Word, bencath

the Divine curse; and take hold of the blessing of the everlasting covenant, of "Christ, who hath redeemed us from the curse of the law." Happy they who receive from God the Revelation He hath given to us-the doctrine of sin, and the doctrine of Christ.

This chronicle of the dukes of the house of Esau is a mighty array in the sacred record, yet mighty as it is, we must view it in the ranks of the enemy of God. A great house was founded, and the very benediction bestowed upon it, rested upon it, "Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live" (xxvii. 39), but this was only a temporal benediction, there is not one spiritual promise to gild the page; and therefore, however noble, and rich, and royal the house of Esau may have been, "These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel," we like better the pilgrim household of Jacob, who sojourned in her pilgrim course from Dan even to Beer-sheba. I do not think this verse which I have quoted was spoken prophetically by Moses, but that it was an interpolation made by some one who afterwards arranged the sacred canon; this is more in accordance with the constitution of Revelation.

"These be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites." (xxxvi. 43.) The one chapter of the book of Obadiah is a marvellous commentary upon this corrupt house.

CHAPTER XXI.

ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

CHAP. XXXVII. Reader, before we proceed further in the study of these ancient types, pause a moment, and consider again the age we are in. We are in the covenant age of the Church; not under the typical and ceremonial economy; not under the prophetic theocracy, but in the covenant age, when God had made promise of a Messiah, an anointed one; and had directed the mind of the Church to another Blessing still, to proceed from the first. These two blessings-the Messiah, and the Holy Ghost, He would typify to His people,-Joseph -increase, or addition-"The Lord shall add to me another son;" Benjamin-son of the right hand. These types are more complicated than those that have gone before, but I think we shall be able to comprehend in them the mind of the Spirit. Joshua and Caleb have precisely the same meaning, they only of all who left Egypt were permitted to enter Canaan.

"And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations

of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report." I think these two handmaids, or as they are called here, wives of Jacob, typified Israel and Judah, as Rachel and Leah had done before, but who were then perhaps both dead. I think they referred here prophetically to the time of Christ's ministry; when He did indeed bring unto His Father their evil report.

"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of colours." Israel means here, the true hidden Church, God with her, or the Divine intention in her. The coat of colours refers to the robes of office of Christ, the prophetic, sacerdotal, and royal. (Rev. xix. 12, 13; i. 13.) "And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." We not only hear God saying, "This is my beloved Son," but we read, "Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered him." Joseph's dream of the sheaves bowing to his sheaf; and of the sun, moon, and eleven stars making obeisance to him, I need not extract here; they are known to every child, and will have their meaning fulfilled: "Unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear." (Isa. xlv. 23; Rom. xiv. 11; Phil. ii. 10.)

"And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed

the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said unto him, Here am I." Christ, the Good Shepherd, was sent particularly to the shepherds and pastors of His flock. Isaiah used precisely the same expres

sion, "Here am I; send me."

"So Israel sent him out of the vale of Hebron; and he came to Shechem." This was a distance of sixty miles.

"And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan." This was still about ten miles further north.

"And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him, to slay him.' We have only to open the New Testament, to see this fulfilled in Herod.

"And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams." In this worldly world, every prophet, and every true servant of God, is a dreamer. No matter whether it be the Son of God, His Holy Spirit, or God Himself, he is a dreamer, and they will slay him. "A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house."

"And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness; and lay no hand upon him: that he might rid him out of their hands." Reuben, here, well represented the faithful adherents of Christ.

"And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his

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