CHAPTER XXIX.

Jacob drawing near the close of his life.—Joseph visits him. -What is an oath ?-Its solemn obligation explained.— Jacob requires Joseph to swear that he will bury the body of his father in the cave of Machpelah.—Joseph takes an oath to do this.

Ir was seventeen years after Jacob was settled with his family in Egypt, and when he was one hundred and forty-seven years old, that he found himself becoming very feeble, and evidently drawing near the close of life.

So he sent for Joseph, that he might see him in season, to make a request of him which lay very near his heart.

It was an event which Joseph had thought for some time could not be far distant; yet it was one which affected him deeply, and he went, in sadness, to visit his father, whose dying counsels he now expected to hear.

Among other things, there was one, as I have said, which lay very near the heart of Jacob. He had a wish to be buried in Canaan, in the land o his fathers; and that his body should lie with theirs, in their own burying-place.

Abraham had bought the cave of Machpelah for this purpose. I was there that his remains were laid by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. It was there that Jacob and his brother Esau-had laid the body of his father Isaac. It was there that Sarah, and Rebekah, and Leah were buried; and it was there that Jacob now desired to be laid, after his decease, by his own children.

He was so very anxious to have this desire of his heart accomplished, that he would be satisfied with nothing short of a solemn oath from Joseph to that effect.

An oath is a peculiar way of stating what we believe to be the truth, or of making a promise. It is the same thing as if the person who takes the oath should I believe that God now sees me,

say,

and knows all my secret thoughts and feelings. I believe that he will be very angry with me if I do not tell the exact truth; or if I promise what I do not truly intend to perform. I believe that he will not only be angry with me for doing so, but that he will punish me severely. I believe that there is a future judgment, at which God will judge all men according to what they have done in this world; and I believe that there is a heaven and a hell; to the former of which those who love and obey God will be admitted; and to the latter of which those

who disobey him and die impenitent will be sentenced, to endure the terrible expressions of his hatred of sin.

Believing this, I give up all my hope in the future mercy of God toward me, if I now say or do any thing which is not exactly and strictly true; and am willing that God should cast me où from his presence, and sentence me to the pains of hell, for ever."

This is taking an oath, or, as it is sometimes called, swearing.

I have given you this account of it, that you may always remember what a solemn transaction it is: a transaction, not between men merely, but between the person who takes the oath, and the great God, the supreme Judge of heaven and of earth.

Many persons, when they are called upon to take an oath, do it without much reflection, and in a very light and careless manner. And I am sorry to say, that sometimes those who call upon persons to swear, are equally unconcerned. This must all be very displeasing to God. I hope and pray, my young friends, that if you are ever placed in such circumstances, so as either to receive an oath from another, or to swear yourselves, you will not forget how solemn a transaction it is, and that you will act in a very serious and becoming manner.

Jacob acted in this manner when he required an oath from Joseph. They both felt that it was a very solemn thing, and that God was present with them in the performance of it.

The mode of doing it was very different from that which is now practised. At the present day, while a person is swearing, or taking an oath, in some places, he holds up his right hand, as a sign of his appeal to God, which appeal I have already described. In other places, as a sign of the same thing, he kisses the Bible.

The sign of this appeal to God, which Jacob required of Joseph, was a singular one. There have been many things written by learned men to explain it; but, after all, it is very doubtful whether the reason of it is at all known. At any rate, I shall not undertake to explain it.

Said Jacob to Joseph, "If now I have found grace In thy sight, (if you truly love me, my son, and are willing to do me a great favor,) put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. And he said, swear unto me.

66

'And Joseph sware unto him. And Israel (or Jacob) bowed himself upon the bed's head."

Some learned men, who are well acquainted with the Hebrew language, think that the Hebrew word which is translated, in our English Bible, the bed's head, or the head of the bed, might better have been put into English, thus-the top of the staff.

So that the meaning would be, that Jacob bowed himself down, or worshipped God, leaning, on account of his feebleness, on the top of his staff, to support him.

This is very probably the meaning; and it shows us how solemn a transaction Jacob thought it was, in which himself and Joseph had been engaged, and on which he thus bowed himself before God to implore his blessing.

After this, Joseph returned home; expecting, however, very soon to be called again to the dying bed of his venerable parent.