666 J A C 
Jacob, which he knew to-be his fon Jofeph’s, and he was 
informed of the particulars which his fons had invented 
to deceive him, he was filled with the molt pungent grief 
for Iris fup'pofed lofs, and did not ceafe mourning on ac¬ 
count of jofeph, till he afterwards heard of his furprifing 
advancement in Egypt. 
Several years elapfed, however, before the patriarch was 
confoled with the tidings that Jofeph was yet alive. At 
length a dreadful fcarcity prevailing in Canaan, and all 
the furrounding natipns, Jacob, who was not exempt 
from the common calamity, hearing that corn was to be 
purchafed in Egypt, fent ten of his fons thither to buy 
fome, and kept only Benjamin with him. The particu¬ 
lar occurrences which happened to them in this expedi¬ 
tion, will be more properly related under the hiftory of Jo¬ 
seph. We (hall only mention in'this place, that when the 
corn which they brought from Egypt was almoft confum- 
ed, as the fcarcity Hill prevailed and was increafmg, Jacob 
was forced again to fend his fons into that country; where 
Jofeph, before whom they had trembled without know¬ 
ing him in his exalted charafter of iuperintendant of the 
kingdom under Pharaoh, difcovered himfelf to his bre¬ 
thren ; and, after giving them proofs of his tender affection, 
went and acquainted the king.with their arrival, and the 
circumftahces of his father’s family. Upon this, Pharaoh 
told Jofeph, that he might fend for his father.and his whole 
family, and place them in what part of Egypt he thought 
fit, where they Ihould never want any favours which he 
could fliovv them. Jofeph difmifled' his brethren to return 
to their father, with rich prefents of the choiceft commo¬ 
dities of Egypt. Upon their arrival at their father’s refi- 
dence, the good old man, overpowered by filch tranfport- 
ing news, fainted away in their arms, and when come to 
himfelf doubted whether what he had heard were not a 
dream. At length, when they fliowed him Jofeph’s pre¬ 
fents, and the Egyptian chariots, his doubts all vanilhed, 
and he cried outin an excefs of joy, “ It is enough ; Jofeph 
my fon is yet alive; I will go and fee him before I die.” 
His great defire once more to embrace his favourite 
animated him to haften his departure ; however, in his 
way to Egypt, he flopped at Beerlheba, to offer facrifices 
to God, both in acknowledgment of- the mercies which 
he had received, and by way of ftill further entreating the 
Divine, protection and blefling in the new lcene on which 
he was entering. Here God appeared to him in the vi- 
fions of the night, and affured him of his guardianfliip 
and favour in Egypt, where his pofterity fliould become 
a great nation, which in due time he would lead out of 
it to the poffelfion of the promifed land ; and adding, that 
as for himfelf, he fliould have the comfort to live near his 
fon Jofeph, and at length die in his arms. Thus encou¬ 
raged, Jacob haftened towards Egypt; and when he came 
near that country, he fent his fon Judah before to ac¬ 
quaint Jofeph with his approach, and to defire him to 
come to him in the land of Goflten, iituated between the 
Red Sea and the Nile, which, as it was a fruitful territory 
and well adapted to the paftoral life, was fixed upon forliis 
place of refidence. No fooner had Jofeph received his 
father’s meffage, than he fet out to meet him ; and their 
mutual joy, when they once more embraced each other, 
may be better imagined than defcribed. 
After fotne time had palfed between the patriarch and 
his beloved fon in endearing intercourfe, Jofeph prefented 
his father to the king, who returned that prince his ac¬ 
knowledgments for the favours which he had beftowed 
upon him, and offered up his prayers for his continued 
profperity and happinefs. After this, Jofeph conducted 
his father and his family to the land of Goflien ; and here 
the family of the patriarch increafed wonderfully in chil¬ 
dren and in wealth. At length Jacob, after he had lived 
feventeen years in Egypt, finding from his feeblenefs that 
his end was not far off, fent for his fon Joleph, to deliver 
him his laft requeft. This was, that his remains fhould 
not be buried in Egypt, but carried to Canaan, the inhe¬ 
ritance which God had pr.omifed to Abraham and his 
O B. 
pofterity, and there depofited with thofe of his anceftors 
Abraham and Ifaac, in the cave of the field of Machpe- 
lah, which Abraham had purchafed. To this requeft Jo- 
feph readily -afiented, and confirmed his promife by an 
oath. Not long afterwards word was brought to Jofeph 
that his father was dying; upon which he took his two 
fons Manaffeh and Ephraim, and went to prefent them to 
him, begging him, to give them his bleffmg before he 
died. At the fight of his beloved fon, the old patriarch 
was invigorated with new ftrength, fo that he was able to 
fit up in his bed; and after adverting to the promifes 
which God had given him of a numerous pofterity, which 
fhould inherit the land of Canaan, and to the death of his 
dear 1 Rachael, lie added, that for her fake he would now 
give a-frefh proof of his affeCHon for Jofeph, by adopting, 
his two fons as his own. In confequence of this meafure* 
he declared, that in the divifion of the promifed land 
they were to receive a double lot, and to be confidered as 
the heads of two diftinct tribes. Afterwards he pro¬ 
nounced his bleffmg on the two lads, but prophefied 
that the younger fhould have precedence over the elder, 
by proving the father of a much more numerous pofterity. 
Finding himfelf grow faint, he delired that all his fons 
might be collected around him, to hear his dyifig predic¬ 
tions of what fhould happen to their feveral defcendants 
in the latter days. The particulars of thefe predictions 
belong to the lives of the refpeCtive fubjeCts of them ; and 
the fubfequent hiftory of the Ifraeiites will fhovV how ex¬ 
actly the events correfponded with the patriarch’s laft words. 
Having made an end of pronouncing his prophetical 
bleffmg, Jacob reminded his fons of their obligation to 
bury him with his anceftors in the cave of Machpelah, 
and f’oon afterwards expired, at the age of one hundred 
and forty-feven, in the year 1689 B.C. Jofeph now gave 
directions that his body fliould be embalmed, and that the 
neceffary preparations fhould be made for his funeral. 
While thefe proceedings were carrying on, the Egyptians 
mourned for the father of their viceroy during feventy 
days. At the expiration of this time, Jofeph, whofe deep 
mourning prevented his attendance at court, acquainted 
Pharaoh, through fome of his officers, with the engage¬ 
ment which he was under to bury his father in the lepul- 
chre of his anceftors, and entreated the king’s permiffion 
to fulfil it. This requeft Pharoah not only readily grant¬ 
ed to his favourite, but alfa ordered riie chief officers of 
his houfehold, and the grandees of the kingdom, to ac¬ 
company the funeral pomp. All Jacob’s family likewife 
attended it, none flaying behind but their wives and their 
little ones. As foon as the cavalcade, which confided of a 
great number of chariots, and a vaft multitude of memon 
horfeback, had crofted the river Jordan, and were entered 
into the land of Canaan, they halted for feven days at the 
threfhing-floor of Atad, and there performed a funeral ce¬ 
remony, which made the Canaanites call the place Abel 
Mizraim, or the mourning of the Egyptians. Afterwards 
they continued their march to Machpelah, where Jacob’s 
fons depofited his remains in the-cave, and then returned 
to Egypt with the reft of their company. 
JA'COB (furnamed A 1 Bardi, or in Latin Baradaus), a 
celebrated champion of the Eutychian dobtrine in the fixth 
century, after whom the Monop’nyfites of the-eaft are to 
this day called Jacobites , was a Syrian by nation, who be¬ 
came the difciple of Severus, the Monophyfite patriarch 
of Antioch, and embraced the monaftic life. When, af¬ 
ter the depofition of Severus, the affairs of' the Mono- 
phyfites were, by perfecution and oppreffion, brought to 
a very low ebb, and their bilhops were reduced, by death 
and imprifonment, to a very fmall number, this monk re- 
ftored the expiring febt to its former profperity and luftre. 
He was ordained to the epifcopal office by fome bilhops 
of his feet, who were in prifon on account of their prin¬ 
ciples , and with the approbation of thefe prelates, he 
travelled on foot through the whole eaft ; eftablilhed bi¬ 
lhops and prelbyters every where ; revived the drooping 
ipirits of the Monophylites; and produced fuch an alto- 
3 milling 
