Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/116

 Limbo.  Where  did  Abraham’s  soul  go  after  death? “He was gathered to  his  people”  (Gen.  25,  8),  i.  e.  he  joined  the  souls  of  the just (such  as  Adam,  Abel,  Seth,  Henoch,  Noe  &amp;c.),  in  Limbo. There they rested  in  the  blessed  hope  and  expectation  of  the  coming  Redeemer who would  deliver  them  from  that  prison  and  take  them  with  Him  into the eternal  joy  of  the  beatific  vision  of  God.

Begin and  end  each  day,  or  any  important undertaking, with  a prayer  for  God's blessing. Begin with  God and end  with  God;  that  is  the  best  rule  of  life.

Are you  obliging  to  your  friends,  and  to  strangers,  as  Rebecca was? Think in  what  way  you  can  help  others,  whether brothers, companions,  friends,  or  strangers,  and  resolve  to  make use of  your  opportunities. God will  reward  each  little  service you perform.

SAAC and  Rebecca  remained  twenty  years  without  children. At length  God  heard  their  prayer, and  gave  them  two  sons. The first-born,  Esau,  was  red  and  hairy,  and  of  a rough,  harsh temper. Jacob, the  second,  was  smooth  in  appearance  and  gentle in his  bearing. Esau became  a skilful  hunter  and  husbandman. Jacob was  a plain  man,  and  dwelt  in  tents. Isaac loved  Esau, and ate  with  pleasure  the  game  that  he  had  killed. Rebecca, on the  other  hand,  loved  the  mild  and  gentle  Jacob. She loved  him the more,  because  she  knew  by  God’s  revelation  (Gen.  XXV,  23) that he,  instead  of  Esau,  had  found  favour  with  God. One day Jacob was  cooking  a mess  of  pottage,  when  Esau,  coming  home from the  field,  faint  with  hunger,  said  to  his  brother:  “Give  me of  this  pottage,  for  I am  hungry.”  Jacob  said  to  him:  “Sell  me thy  first  birthright.”  Esau  replied:  "Lo,  I die  of  hunger:  what