while the action of Adam there is rebuked, the principle that sin must be

covered is maintained:

'Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins,

and clothed them' (Gen. 3:21).

The sense of need expressed by the making of aprons was right, but the

attempt to provide a covering of their own devising was wrong.  Aprons made

of leaves omitted the essential element, namely the shed blood.  Coats made

of skins cannot be provided apart from the death of animals, and so in the

Garden of Eden the question of the right and wrong covering of sin was worked

out in symbol and type.  There is an allusion to this use of the skin in the

law of the burnt offering, for the offering must be 'flayed' i.e. skinned

(Lev. 1:6).  The Tabernacle, too, with its cherubim and furniture, was

'covered' with skins (Exod. 25:5).  When Isaiah uses the figure of

'clothing', saying, 'He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He

hath covered me with the robe of righteousness' (Isa. 61:10), he was but

amplifying the significance of the act of the Lord in the Garden of Eden.

We have already indicated that the two words kaphar and kopher occur

together in connection with the Ark (Gen. 6:14); and that when we next meet

with the Hebrew kaphar it has acquired the meaning that is consistently

adopted throughout the remainder of the Old Testament.  Now this is too

important a fact to pass by without further attention and we shall therefore

observe this critical passage more closely.  Jacob said, 'I will appease him

with the present' (Gen. 32:20).  Esau had been wronged by his brother, and

felt it so deeply that he comforted himself 'purposing to kill' Jacob upon

Isaac's death (Gen. 27:41,42).  We must remember Esau's 'great and exceeding

bitter cry' when he learned that Jacob's subtilty had deprived him of

blessing (Gen. 27:34).  Therefore he hated Jacob, and said in his heart, 'The

days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother

Jacob' (Gen. 27:41).

Many years passed before Jacob again met his brother, and although, so

far as we can gather, the early hatred had died down, Jacob may not have been

aware of it, and, being apprehensive, arranged the circumstances of the

reunion so that his brother's hatred might be turned away, and reconciliation

effected.  Let us notice his procedure.

First he sent messengers before him and, through them, addressed his

brother as 'My lord Esau', calling himself 'thy servant Jacob' (Gen. 32:4).

We learn next the purpose of this embassy: 'I have sent to tell my lord, that

I may find grace in thy sight' (Gen. 32:5).  Upon their return the messengers

report that 'he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him' (Gen.

32:6).  Greatly afraid and distressed, Jacob at once proceeded to make

provision for the safety of his family and possessions, and, at the same time

if possible, to avert the threatened wrath of Esau.  First he divided his

people, his flocks and his herds into two bands, saying, 'If Esau come to the

one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape'

(Gen. 32:8).  He then turned to God in prayer, confessing his unworthiness

and praying for deliverance from the hand of his brother Esau.  Following

this he took from his flocks and herds, two hundred she goats, and twenty he

goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels with their

colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses and ten foals.  These he

divided into separate droves, instructing each servant to say to Esau, 'They

be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau; and behold,

also he is behind us' (Gen. 32:18).