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Rachel's grave was a landmark at the time of Samuel. (1 Samuel 10:2, 3) Another
crime yet stained the family of Jacob at Migdal Eder, "the watchtower of the flock,"
in consequence of which Reuben was deprived of the privileges of the
firstborn.(Genesis 49:4) At last Jacob came to his journey's end, "unto Isaac his
father, unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and
Isaac sojourned." Here Scripture pauses to record, by way of anticipation, the death
of Isaac, at the age of one hundred and eighty years, although that event took place
twelve years after Jacob's arrival at Hebron; and, indeed, Isaac had lived to share his
son's sorrow, when Joseph was sold into Egypt, having only died ten years before
Jacob and his sons settled in Egypt.^52 But the course of sacred history has turned from
Isaac, and, in fact, Jacob himself is now but a secondary actor in its events. The main
interest henceforth centers in Joseph, the elder son of Rachel, with whose life the
progress of sacred history is identified.
(^)