essential element of 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",

he was but amplifying the significance of the act of the Lord in the Garden of Eden.

We have already indicated, in the last article, that in the next outstanding type of

Redemption, 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 O.T. 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 his blessing

(Gen. 27: 34).

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 note 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: 3). 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 twenty 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: 20).

When at last Esau saw his brother Jacob, he "ran to meet him, and embraced him, and

fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept", and Jacob said, "If now I have found