which deal with the geneaology of the patri archs from Adam down to Joseph. The Book of Genesis in which these geneaologies are preserved is a perfect mine of ancient law and custom, mythology and social usages, at times given with fullness and in detail, and at other times simply suggested in a word or passing allusion. The simple and well known story of the sale of Esau's birthright to Jacob contains much that is hidden to the eye of the superficial reader. It would not be impossi ble to reconstruct from this simple tale a large part of the life and law of the ancient Hebrews. As it is commonly taught in and out of Sunday schools, it simply becomes the vehicle for the communication of a certain moral truth, and not less frequently, for the communication of certain prejudices against the race of which Jacob is said to be the father. Studied impartially, the story contains an interesting chapter of ancient law. Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and repre sented the two great classes of primitive society. Esau was a huntsman and Jacob was a herdsman : as the Bible puts it, " Esau was an expert hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents." Esau represented the old order of things which was passing away, and Jacob repre sented the new order that was taking its place. The primitive nomads were all hunt ers, relying for their sustenance upon their skill with weapons of chase. By and by, in the course of their social evolution, they were converted from huntsmen into herds men, even as the latter were afterwards con verted from herdsmen into agriculturists, and as in our own days we see agriculturists con verted into industrialists. The ultimate meaning of the story of Jacob and Esau, and the purchase of Esau's birthright by Jacob, simply is that the herds man supplanted the huntsman, and in that sense of the word, Jacob is properly named
"the supplanter," this being one of the mean ings of the Hebrew name. Immemorial custom gave to the eldest born certain rights over the other children of the family. The eldest born succeeded the father as the head of the family, and by virtue of his birthright he obtained a larger share of the patrimonial estate. There was no fixed uniform custom governing the birth right and its incidents, for we find some references throughout the Bible indicating that the birthright was 'inalienable, and oth ers, as in the story of Jacob and Esau, that it could be sold; some when the will of the father, others when custom or law deter mined who should enjoy the birthright. In the present case, it seems that Esau enjoyed the birthright by virtue of his primogeniture and that he had the right, even during the lifetime of his father, to sell his birthright to another member of his family. The manner in which this contract of sale was executed is generally considered some what informal, and yet, upon examination we find that all the necessary formalities and in cidents to the validity of the sale were ob served, with one exception; there were no witnesses present. Neither of the parties, however, seemed to have considered this in formality as in any way affecting the validity of their contract. Although Esau believed himself to be aggrieved, he nevertheless rec ognized the validity of the sale and acknowl edged it, although apparently, he might have taken advantage of the fact that no witnesses were present, and have repudiated it. This is usually credited to the honesty of Esau, but is more properly to be ascribed to the fact that although no witnesses attested the sale, Esau swore an oath, the sanction of which prevented him, through fear of invok ing the wrath of the Higher Powers, from breaking it. Esau, having come in from his hunt tired and faint, asked Jacob, who was boiling some pottage, " Let me swallow down, I pray thee,
